Bond Enforcement
by Etcetera Kit
Summary: When Mr. Collins needs a team of bounty hunters, he recruits an eclectic group of exrangers who put the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional.' Parts 1 & 2 revised. Discontinued.
1. Lateral Shifts

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** This is an idea I had when SPD was announced as the newest incarnation. It was going to be tied to SPD, but that just didn't work since SPD is set fifteen years in the future. So it's set in the present day. The initial five recruits are at least named in this chapter. I'd like honest opinions on this-- should I continue or not? Flames, as per usual, will be used to roast marshmallows for s'mores. On with the show...

* * *

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part One: On the Run  
Chapter One: Lateral Shifts**

Eric Myers stared at the memo with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation. A memo, summoning him to Mr. Collins' office, was either entirely good or entirely bad. Nothing fell in between with the millionaire who owned Bio-Lab and the Silver Guardians and signed his paychecks. He racked his brain to think of something that he had done that could be classified in the 'bad' category. Nothing came up. Of course, that still didn't set him home free on the assumption that the meeting was about something 'good.' He let out a long breath and sat back in his chair behind his desk.

He hated not knowing what was going on.

Wes Collins, his partner, was always quick to tell him that he was just a control freak and couldn't stand not being in charge. Some water was held in that claim, but not much. He was the co-commander of the Silver Guardians. He had to know what was going on at all times—it was a part of his job! It was what those paychecks on the fifteenth and last day of every month meant. He was in charge.

There were times he imagined just packing up and leaving Silver Hills, like he had just packed up and left so many towns before it. There was only one thing tying him here and it could be summed up in two words—Power Rangers. So, the methods surrounding his possession of the quantum morpher were sketchy at best, but he had found himself thrust onto a team with five others who already functioned as a team. The four rangers from the future had gone back and he found himself left with Wes. Some things had changed… others had remained the same… and he had decided to stay in Silver Hills.

Now there was this memo.

He glanced at the clock on the wall of his office, and then double-checked it against the watch on his right wrist. He had thirty minutes until the meeting. That gave him enough time to get some badly needed paperwork started on. His almond-shaped black eyes glanced to his left wrist where his morpher was. That seemingly small and insignificant device had been the catalyst that vaulted him from a peon guardian to commander. He had been an ambitious career climber and had been willing to use any means to get it. Now, he had everything he wanted, so he wasn't sure if he would resort to the same methods, assuming that he was put at the bottom of the heap again.

His entire life had revolved around becoming a ranger. He and Wes had inadvertently discovered the team of rangers that followed them—the Wild Force Rangers. That incident in and of itself had been enough to change his life. Wes argued that it had changed something for good. He begged to differ. Becoming briefly involved with a very difficult woman had been nothing but a headache. God, she had been beautiful, but the pair of them had been entirely too much alike. A long term relationship would have brought nothing but strife. He just wanted to find a woman he respected to settle down with. None of that happened… his break-up with Taylor Earhardt had been more than enough reason to give up on the relationship front for some time…

Glancing up, he realized that the clock hands had moved quit a bit since he went off into his reverie. Crap. He needed to leave now. Standing up, he cast a withering glance to the paperwork and headed out of his office, down the hall towards the Bio-Lab building where Mr. Collins held court.

"Hey, Commander!" the secretary said as he entered the lobby through a side door. "Mr. Collins is waiting for you."

Eric glanced at his watch. According to the atomic clock, he was three minutes early. His heart began to hammer in his chest. All of the signs surrounding this pointed to something bad. He walked down the hall and knocked softly on the door to Mr. Collins' office.

"Come in!" his boss called.

Taking a deep breath and adopting a neutral expression, Eric pushed open the door and walked into the office. Mr. Collins looked up when he entered.

"Eric!" he said warmly. "Have a seat." He pointed a pen at the cushy leather chairs sitting in front of the huge desk.

Eric took a seat, trying to look as respectful as possible.

Mr. Collins finished signing a document and closed the dossier it was in, setting the pen down on the desk. "I'm going to get right to the point," the man said. "You are aware that I have started a small bond agency for the pending court appearances that happen through the Silver Guardians."

"Yes, sir." In other words, relatives and family members posted the bail for new inmates through Collins, so that he or she could sleep in his own bed while awaiting a court appearance. This was great, except for the fact that some people didn't appear in court. The Silver Guardians had been given the task of bringing these people in.

"I'm forming a small squad of fugitive apprehension agents," he continued. "The sole purpose of this squad is to bring in the growing number of FTAs that the bond agency is receiving."

'FTA' stood for 'failure to appear,' It meant the people who didn't show in court. 'Fugitive apprehension agent' was just a fancy term for a bounty hunter. Most of the time, bounty hunters received a small percentage of the bond money. However, he had a feeling that regular paychecks would be involved if Collins were in charge.

"I'd like you to act as a member of the squad."

Eric frowned. "Sir?"

Mr. Collins nodded. "I realize that you would be losing your command position, but the benefits would be greater. My companies own a series of townhouses and apartments in town. I'm offering a townhouse for the squad's use—it would be easier than having you commute since your schedule would be hard to mold around 'nine to five.' Your pay would remain the same, but that would now exclude rent and utilities and groceries."

Eric raised an eyebrow. Collins must have been losing a lot of money over these FTAs in order to be that generous. He was already generous with the benefits he offered his employees, but to fund a squad to that extent? It was like giving them twice again the salary. It was a tempting offer—and it would test his theory about what he would now do. He didn't imagine that he would feel the need to be in charge since bounty hunters had a lot of leeway when doing apprehensions anyways. A command figure would organize the squad into tasks and the squad members would perform the tasks independently.

"The squad could use a member with your expertise."

Lay it on thick. "Who is the commander, sir?" If Collins was asking him to be a squad member, then that most certainly meant that he already had a commander.

"Mike Corbett."

He willed his jaw not to drop. He had heard of Corbett—who hadn't? The man had been second-in-command on Terra Venture. It meant he was a high-ranking commander from the Galactic Space Alliance and would most certainly know what he was doing. How in the world did Collins manage to get him, shuttles from Mirinoi aside? But did he want to leave his command position in order to run down skips?

"I'll do it, sir." It didn't sound like him speaking. Something told him that this could be a great opportunity, but… there was no retracting the words now, no time to think…

"Great. You won't be alone. One of the forensic scientists from Bio-Lab will be joining the squad with you. You've worked with her before—Kendrix Morgan."

His heart stopped hammering and just _stopped_. Not her… she was nuts. She thought that performing autopsies was the coolest thing in the world. What was he thinking?

* * *

Kendrix Morgan sighed as she pulled a duffel bag out of her car and slung it over her shoulder. Four years ago, taking the job offer with Bio-Lab and starting anew on Earth had seemed like a great idea. Once her friends learned that she wasn't dead… well, things had not been the same. A wide canyon had formed between them. They still cared about her, but it was awkward and strained. It had just been better to return to Earth and do work that was something she loved. Her degree in college had been criminal justice with a minor in ecology. The minor had gotten her the job with the GSA and, later, on Terra Venture. Now, she was back to being a forensic scientist and doing the meticulous work that she enjoyed. Autopsies, when she worked with the morticians and doctors, were even fascinating. So much could be learned, confirming that dead men do tell tales.

Collins had asked her to be a part of the fugitive apprehension agent squad. Her field of expertise would help when tracking particularly difficult skips and she had combat training from her time with the GSA. What Collins didn't know about was her past as a Power Ranger—the Pink Galaxy Ranger—and the fact that she had her saber and she could still morph. The Galaxy Rangers had kept their identities a secret. The people of Mirinoi knew who they were and the people of Terra Venture had an idea, but it wasn't the same as putting it on a resume.

She had accepted the offer with the prospect of Mike being her commanding officer again and the cushy benefits. When Mike had been her superior on Terra Venture, she had found that she worked well with him. He was fair and just, making her work easier, because she didn't have to worry about career politics. That aside, Mike was her friend and knew her. He knew her capabilities and strengths, as he knew her weaknesses. It would not be like switching jobs and going to a place where no one knew her.

What she hadn't know when she accepted was that the same offer was being given to the brusque and ill-tempered co-commander of the Silver Guardians. Well, ill-tempered wasn't exactly the word, since he had never been hostile with her. But impatience and anger was always lingering in his eyes. Bluntly, he was not a nice person and was difficult to work with. Kendrix had no idea how his partner put up with him. Now she had to work with Eric Myers, but he was her equal—no longer her superior. This was going to be interesting.

Walking back into the townhouse, she went upstairs to her room and put the bag down on the floor. The rest of her things were already in place. The townhouse was odd, in that it was larger than it appeared. Four bedrooms were upstairs and each was designed to accommodate two people. Two bathrooms, between each pair of rooms, rounded out the upstairs. Kendrix was in the B room. From the configuration, it appeared that the A and B rooms would be females, while the C and D rooms would be males. Simple, but it worked. Eric was in the C room.

Mike had his own room downstairs, where he would share a bathroom with another commanding type, if another joined.

"Kendrix!"

Speaking of Mike… she left the duffel bag on the floor and went out into the hall to the top of the narrow stairs. "What's up?" she asked.

Mike nodded towards the kitchen. "We all need to touch base. Then you can get back to unpacking." He added the last sentence with a smile. Kendrix rolled her eyes and came downstairs; almost embarrassed that he remembered how long it had taken her to settle into her quarters on Terra Venture, only to have it tossed into a tailspin when Maya showed up.

Eric was sitting at the island in the narrow kitchen. Tall stools were placed around the island so that it would be used as a makeshift table, since there was no room elsewhere for such a luxury. The living room was in the front of the house with a sofa, two armchairs, a coffee table and large television stuffed in it. A small room off the front of the house would serve as a control room later, for equipment in the realms of forensics and surveillance. A garage was attached to the outside, since their house was on one end of a row.

Kendrix sat down across from Eric, adjusting her ponytail. His expression was neutral, but she got the intense feeling that he wasn't too crazy about her. She reciprocated that particular feeling. Mike sat between them, at one end of the island.

"Collins put us in charge of recruiting our other two members," Mike said without ceremony. "We get to pick them, but he has the final say."

"He's going to interview them too?" Eric asked.

Mike nodded, shuffling through a pile of papers on the island. "He gave me a bunch of names that he had." He located a piece of paper and pulled it out. "We've got two I'd like to check out. Cameron Wantanabe and Kira Ford," he read off two separate packets.

"How does he find these people?" Kendrix muttered.

"We don't ask these questions," Eric replied, almost flippantly.

"At any rate," Mike said, oblivious to the slight tension in the air. "I've arranged for Cameron Wantanabe to meet one of us in that small diner off of I-5."

"The Greasy Spoon?" Eric asked.

"You know it?"

"Yeah. Great food, nice people, but you don't want to look in the kitchen."

Mike nodded. "All right, Cameron's going to be there at three." He glanced at his watch. "So one of us should get on the road now—any volunteers?"

Eric looked at Kendrix. "You," he said succinctly.

"Me?" she squeaked, looking at Mike for help. "Why?"

"You're a woman, decently attractive and have more charisma than a couple of guys."

"What kind of a reason is that?"

"He's got a point," Mike interrupted. "You send out the signal that the squad is not a lot of guerilla warfare types, wanting to take the law into their own hands." He paused and looked at one of the packets. "This guy would be coming aboard to do the computer-technology side of things. I don't think insinuating that we're all gung-ho would make him likely to join. And we need someone to set up a surveillance system."

Kendrix rolled her eyes. "I can talk to him."

Mike gave her an encouraging smile and handed her the packet on Cameron. "Just talk to him and answer his questions. If he's still interested and you think we can work with him, report that and we'll send him onto Mr. Collins with our blessing."

She nodded and stood up.

"I look out of place at that joint," Eric muttered in an undertone. "Stand out too much. You need to blend into the background."

Kendrix hated to tell him that the only time he wouldn't look out of place was if he were in a line-up with Batman and Rambo. She also didn't appreciate his insinuation that she was invisible, but she kept her remarks to herself. Eventually, they would have to work together and it was better to keep up appearances. Besides, if push came to shove, she'd rather have Eric covering her back than anyone else.

She went upstairs to get her purse, while skimming the information on Cameron Wantanabe.

* * *

It was going to be an interesting working dynamic. Mike Corbett was sure of that much as he watched Kendrix study the directions to the diner and then leave the townhouse. He had an idea of the kind of work distribution already. Eric was much more suited to the actual apprehensions, letting others do the tedious surveillance and forensics work, while he came in and handcuffed the skip, dragging the subject to the police station. Kendrix would do much more behind the scenes work, dusting abandoned apartments for fingerprints and other clues to lead them to a missing FTA.

He hoped that the two he had his eye on from the papers Collins' had given him would make the final cut. Cameron Wantanabe had two degrees—a master's in mechanical engineering and a bachelor's in computer programming. He didn't have much of a resume, but he did have the combat skills being a master at some kind of martial arts. He had also spent a year working on advanced weaponry and surveillance techniques and he had the blueprints to prove it. Mike had no doubt that this guy could build a space ship from household appliances.

The other would take more of a challenge when presented to Collins. Kira Ford was a Grammy-award winning musician with absolutely no reason to join a fugitive apprehension squad. She was nineteen and had just graduated from high school. No college and no practical experience… but she did have a strange recommendation letter from her high school science teacher. The teacher—a Doctor Thomas Oliver—had explained that she was proficient in combat skills along with having the ability to engage in undercover activities and help with strategic planning. Mike wasn't sure what all that implied, but he had a gut feeling that she would turn out to be more than just a singer. And, as an added incentive, she had some connections that the others could never hope to have.

And, for the technical issues on Collins' end, he had a roommate for Kendrix and a roommate for Eric. Collins had explained the room usage—he wanted females to be in the A and B rooms, while the males would be in the C and D rooms. He was of an older generation that did not feel co-ed bathroom usage was proper. That also meant that Collins would prefer an eventual co-commander to be male. Of course, Collins had explained that exceptions would be made if a qualified person of the opposite gender turned up. It limited some possibilities, but Mike felt confident that he could work within the confines of it. In all actuality, it wasn't any stranger than some of the GSA guidelines. And Collins was covering his ass with a move like that.

Eric was giving him a scrutinizing look. "Are we going to look into the other?"

Mike looked at the former Silver Guardian, wondering what his reasons for leaving his lofty command position had been. He shuffled through the papers and pulled out three concert tickets and backstage passes.

Myers looked at them and frowned. "We're going to a teenybopper concert?" He paused and shook his head. "You have terrible taste in music."

There was an underlying joshing tone to his last statement. "It's to talk to Kira Ford." He paused as Eric connected the name on the packet with the latest teen idol. "She can't get time away during the day to meet with us, so we're coming to her after the concert."

"Would she have a tour commitment to finish?"

He nodded inwardly. It didn't take Eric long to come up with possible hitches in their plans. That trait would come in handy when tracking down people. "She's got four more concerts after the one tonight. If she decides to join, she'll finish the concerts and have her interview with Collins by the end of the week." He paused. "I'm hoping that Collins can help her out if she runs into contract issues."

Eric shrugged. "He's a fucking Rockefeller. He can afford it."

Colloquially expressed, but essentially true.

"So why these two?" Eric paused and gestured to the other packets. "Why not one of the others in there?"

"Cameron has the expertise. Kira… has a strange recommendation letter." He handed her packet to Eric. The Quantum Ranger thumbed through it, coming to the letter.

"She's hiding something," he said flatly.

"But what?"

Eric looked thoughtful for a minute. "She's from Reefside. The latest bunch of rangers was located there."

"Are you implying she was a ranger?"

He shrugged. "It's a possibility. I mean what else can explain the vagueness surrounding her skills and abilities regarding becoming a bounty hunter?"

"How would the science teacher know about that?"

To his surprise, Eric smiled. "That's Tommy Oliver. He was a ranger for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if he got mixed up in a newer group somehow."

Mike raised an eyebrow. "Should I ask how you know that?"

"Probably not."

He stared at Eric with renewed interest. Everyone in Silver Hills knew that Eric was the Quantum Ranger. His identity had been known from the moment he got his morpher—it had been the reason he was made commander of the Silver Guardians. Kendrix had been the Pink Galaxy Ranger and she had her saber—Mike was pretty sure he was the only one that knew that, just as he was pretty sure that Kendrix was the only one that knew he had been the Magna Defender before he sacrificed his powers.

Mike thought for a moment. Leo had gone on a mission with a number of other red rangers about three years ago. His younger brother hadn't mentioned too many others outside of Andros and Carter. He had a feeling that Eric had been on that mission, making it possible for him to know about more former rangers than anyone else. What if Kira Ford turned out to be a former ranger as well? It was a thought worth entertaining.

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Moving Up

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** **(a) **Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I wasn't sure if there would be any interest in this. I will try to keep the first few chapters as interesting as possible. It's best to think of them as the first episode of a television series, since everyone has to figure out where they fit in the grand scheme of things. Another note, this will be written in episodic form rather than as an overarching plot with subplots going on underneath it. With that, a cheesy dramatization is at the bottom for those of you that are unclear on what a bounty hunter does. (PS- Other characters will come into this, but not for some time now and there will NOT be cannon pairings.)

* * *

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part One: On the Run  
Chapter Two: Moving Up**

Cam Wantanabe stared into the muddy depths of his mug of coffee. The beverage had become the hinge on which his existence swung. No one dared talked to him in the morning until he had had his first cup of coffee and no one tried to interrupt him while he was working on restoring Ninja Ops. The only person who ever interrupted him was his father and most of the time it was for something academy related.

He sighed. Becoming the head teacher of the Wind Ninja Academy was not supposed to come with so much work and stress. It had been his dream to become a ninja, since he was a little kid, but it was always the one thing his father denied him. School had always come naturally, especially math and science, so he was able to take a little comfort from being unable to attend ninja school. He built Ninja Ops and the morphers and the zords—all the things that they would need if Lothor decided to land on Earth again. If he couldn't become a ninja, then he was determined to be one of the ones his father chose to become Power Rangers.

Once more, he was thwarted. His father gave the wind morphers to the three screw-ups and he was stuck fixing their messes. It hadn't been until the other rangers were helpless that his father let him embark on a journey to become a ranger. That had been an experience, meeting his mother, whom he hardly remembered. How his parents ever got married and had him were questions that only a few knew the answers to.

Now, he was looking at starting something new, beyond being a ninja and going to college for degrees to help him build Ninja Ops. Alan Collins, the millionaire who owned Bio-Lab and the Silver Guardians, was putting together a team of bounty hunters. The man was in charge of one of the most prestigious and advanced companies on the planet. Cam didn't really care if he was the janitor; it was an honor to be offered a position with them. He had the combat skills and stealth to become a bounty hunter, plus he could build the much needed surveillance equipment and bugs needed to track fugitives. He liked to think that his college degrees counted for something in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, he had been surprised when the commander of the squad, Mike Corbett, had suggested one of his people meet Cam at the Greasy Spoon. He knew who Mike Corbett was—anyone with half a brain who followed science did. But whatever the methods, he just wanted to get the job with Bio-Lab and get away from the building pressure and stress at the school. His father would let him go without a fight. The others might have more problems with it, but he didn't care. It was time to walk his own path for a while. He might ultimately end up back at the ninja school, but it would be a few years on his own.

He looked up as someone walked into the diner. It was mid-afternoon and business was slow. This might be the person sent to meet him. She had blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, glasses and was wearing a white tank top and pink broomstick skirt. She dug into her shoulder bag and pulled out a file folder. Looking up from it, she looked at him and made a beeline for him.

"Are you Cameron Wantanabe?" she asked.

"Cam," he corrected almost automatically. The only person who ever called him 'Cameron' was his father and that was normally before a lecture.

She smiled. "All right. Cam it is. I'm Kendrix Morgan," she introduced herself and slid into the booth across from him.

"You're on the squad?" he asked.

Kendrix nodded. "Yup. I already worked for Bio-Lab, so it was more of a parallel shift for me." She paused. "Mr. Collins recruited me, Mike and Eric. Now, he's letting us pick the other two members for the squad."

"Really?"

"He has the final say, but we have a lot of influence."

"You don't look like a bounty hunter."

Kendrix raised an eyebrow. "What's a bounty hunter supposed to look like?"

He shrugged. "I don't know—like an ex-Army Ranger on steroids with a grudge against the bad guys and life in general."

She laughed. "You'll fit right in."

"With who?"

"Mike and Eric. Unfortunately, you have a share a room with Eric."

"Eric?"

"He was the co-commander of the Silver Guardians. Mr. Collins asked him to work on the squad. He's kind of a one man army, who doesn't suffer fools well."

This had to be the strangest interview that Cam had ever had in his life. At least, he had thought this was supposed to be an interview. He had done the entire application process to the letter—sent in his resume and letters of recommendation along with a cover letter. He had received a postcard from the Human Resources department at Bio-Lab saying that his application materials had been received and he would be contacted soon. The recommendation letters had been as professional as he could get them—one from a professor he had during his master's degree, one from Kelly and the third one being from Sensei Omino at the Thunder Ninja Academy. Was this an interview? He was confused.

"Are you all right?" Kendrix asked him.

"Yeah… I just thought this was an interview."

"It is," Kendrix said. "Collins made sure that all the people's name we received were qualified. This is more to make sure that you'll get along with the others."

"Get along?" he asked faintly.

"Uh-huh. We're going to be living and working in pretty close quarters, so it's almost essential that we be able to peacefully coexist if nothing else."

"Makes sense."

Kendrix bobbed her head. "I'll recommend to the others and Mr. Collins that we hire you for the squad." She paused. "I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be hired."

"Oh."

Kendrix's cell phone rang. She rifled through her purse and pulled it out. "Hello?" she asked. She paused and then looked at her watch. "We need to leave now, if we want to get there in time." She paused again. "All right. See you in a few." She hung up.

Cam raised an eyebrow at her.

"I need to go," she said. "Are you all right with joining? I mean do you have any questions or anything like that?"

He shook his head.

"Great!" Kendrix said enthusiastically. "You'd be in charge of all the computer surveillance type things we'd need to do. Mr. Collins should arrange your interview by the end of the week. I'll see you when you move in!"

With that, she was gone. Cam stared after her, wondering just what he had managed to get himself into.

* * *

The concert was in full swing when they arrived. Mike looked around as they filed into their seat near the back of the floor section. It was obvious that this was the last place Eric wanted to be seen alive. The Quantum Ranger had a frown firmly in place and narrowed his eyes at the screaming kids in front of him. The sunglasses didn't help—at least he wasn't wearing leather. Eric looked like something out of a really bad spy movie.

Then again, all three of them were older than most of the audience—and most of the audience was also female. Mike reached into the pocket of his jean jacket and took out his backstage pass. Eric's pass was tied to one of his belt loops. Kendrix's was already in place around her neck.

Mike shook his head, thinking back to why he had taken this job. Things on Mirinoi were stable and peaceful. Commander Stanton was more than able to handle things by himself—the man was in his mid-forties. When Collins had offered him a command position for a team of bounty hunters, Stanton had encouraged him to accept. The shuttle system between Mirinoi and Earth enabled fairly efficient transportation between the planets. He would be able to see Leo and the others on Mirinoi in his spare time. That was a discussion they needed to have once they had a full team—off time. He couldn't imagine being able to handle things if more than two people were off at a time… They would have such an unpredictable schedule—and with the rate at which the bond company was growing, they would have to recruit a full ten members within a few months.

Pay raise, no rent and utilities', being able to concentrate solely on work with some leisure time in between… the job was a dream come true for most people. He could also make his own schedule. It was great. There was nothing to ground him to either Earth or Mirinoi—as long as he knew where Leo was, he didn't mind being planets apart. For a while, before Terra Venture took off, he had known that he and Leo might be separated forever. Technology was amazing and took the edge off his worry. Plus, Leo was still rooming with Damon and Kai—with Kai around, there was not much opportunity to get into trouble. Besides, Maya had gotten Leo involved with Jara, the chief of her tribe, and Leo was now intensely interested in the spiritual aspect of their life.

Leo was out of trouble and he was doing something new. Everyone came out on top.

"Thank you, Silver Hills!"

He snapped to attention at the farewell from the stage. Kira Ford waved to the audience and skipped off the stage.

Eric nudged him and gave him a meaningful look.

"Come on," Mike said, standing up. He headed towards one of the doors where fans were clustered, hoping for an autograph or something. They held up their passes and the security guards waved them into the hallway.

"I'll have to get one of these for a good concert," Eric muttered in the relative quiet of the white hall, away from screaming fans.

"I thought it was pretty good," Kendrix commented.

Eric snorted. "Please," he replied sarcastically.

Mike could foresee arguments over what kind of music would be played in the stakeout van. He didn't comment on the exchange, just came to the dressing rooms where there was another crowd of people. This time it was reporters and salesmen, all trying to see the great Grammy-award winning artist, Kira Ford.

A man with blonde, spiked hair was close to having a nervous breakdown, trying to get rid of all the people. Mike figured he must be Kira Ford's manager. He elbowed his way through the crowd and showed the manager his pass.

"You're the people from Bio-Lab?" he asked, close to tears with gratitude.

"Yeah," Mike replied. "I'm Mike Corbett. This is Kendrix Morgan and Eric Myers."

"Go on in," the manager said, cracking the dressing room door enough for them to slip in, but not enough for the crowd to start a stampede.

Mike stopped short just inside the dressing room. It looked like a typical dressing room for a pop rock star, but there was no pop rock star inside. He glanced around and saw a door that had to lead to a bathroom.

"I feel like I'm in the presence of Carolyn Pickets again," Kendrix muttered.

"That movie star who went on Terra Venture?" Eric asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Isn't she a really big bitch?"

Kendrix shuddered dramatically. "You have no idea."

Eric shrugged. "I can't see Tommy Oliver having a bitchy beauty queen involved with a team of Power Rangers that he was on." He paused. "At least not voluntarily."

"Power Rangers?" Kendrix questioned.

"I'll explain later," Mike ended the exchange, since the theory that Kira had been a Power Ranger was just that… a theory.

The bathroom door opened and Kira Ford emerged. Her face was free of make-up making her look younger and more vulnerable than in the pictures. She was wearing a yellow tank top and loose jeans. Mike nodded to her.

"I'm Mike Corbett," he said. "Kendrix Morgan and Eric Myers," he added, motioning to his companions.

"Kira Ford," she replied. "Why don't you guys find a place to sit? Want anything to drink?"

Mike found a seat in one of the folding director's chairs in the room. Kendrix perched on a chaise lounge while Eric leaned against the make-up counter. Kira sat in another director's chair, facing them with unabashed excitement. She looked like she had been thrown into the world of stardom when she didn't want to be there. Doing a quick calculation, Mike thought back to the paperwork on her, realizing she was only nineteen. This 'interview' was probably going to be very interesting.

* * *

Kira Ford studied the three people before her. Mike had said on the phone that Mr. Collins had hand-picked the first three members, but the squad was given a say in who the final two members were. It was puzzling why her. Doctor Oliver had given her the article on the bounty hunter team and encouraged her to send in her application. He knew that she wasn't happy with where the music industry had taken her. He also promised to write her a recommendation letter along with getting two other letters from the reformed Principal Randall and Anton Mercer. She wasn't sure she wanted to be a bounty hunter, but it would get her away from music for a while. She could write and play what she wanted and she had no doubt she could do the job.

Mike Corbett, the commander of the squad, looked like a normal guy who had worked for the GSA. He was tall—over six foot—with medium brown hair and sun-kissed skin. Of the three, he was dressed the most normally in jeans and a gray t-shirt with blue lettering. Eric Myers had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed. He had on a red shirt with a white t-shirt under it. Something about him screamed 'guerilla warfare.' Kendrix looked like the stereotypical 'girly-girl' complete with pink skirt, blonde hair and blue eyes. The only thing out of place was her wire-framed glasses.

"Thanks for seeing us," Mike said with a smile.

"It's my pleasure," she replied easily. One of the things being famous had taught her was how to handle herself at interviews. It was good to see that those skills would be used for something other than drippy MTV shows. "I'm flattered that you're interviewing me."

Mike nodded. "We've been given a lot of authority over recruiting the final two members for the team."

"So you said." She paused and looked at the three people. Mike was giving her his sole attention. Kendrix was looking around the room with interest. Eric looked bored. "But why me?"

"You had good recommendations." He paused. "Do you have any questions about the squad or what we'd be doing?"

"I have a decent idea," she replied carefully. All of these people were beginning to look familiar, but she couldn't place from where. "Do I know any of you?"

"No," Eric answered. Kira glanced to him, startled that he had chosen to speak. "But I know your science teacher."

How in the world did Eric know Doctor O? She was confused and frowned at him. Perhaps it was best not to know how he had met Doctor O… Eric just didn't seem like the type of person that the former Black Dino Thunder Ranger would be friends with. Of course, she didn't know any of the people in the room with her…

Mike cleared his throat loudly. "Mr. Collins has taken care of the living arrangements and expenses for the time that we would be working for him." Nice change of subject, abrupt, but getting things of off something that Mike clearly didn't want Eric to start talking about.

"You said," she replied, glancing back to Eric. He had a bulky watch on his left wrist… no, it wasn't a watch. It was a morpher. She and the other Dino Thunder Rangers had watched the archives at Doctor O's house and gotten to the point where they could recognize all the different types of morphers. Of course, it wasn't like any of them actually ran into someone with a morpher, except for their brief encounter with the Ninja Storm Rangers.

"Your primary task would be a field agent—doing surveillance and helping with takedowns."

She nodded absently at Mike, trying to remember what kind of morpher the one Eric was wearing was. "You were the Quantum Ranger!" she blurted out at Eric.

He turned towards her, his cold, black eyes giving her an appraising look. "Most people in Silver Hills know I'm the Quantum Ranger," he replied carefully.

"But you helped the Time Force Rangers."

"I saved their asses," he muttered.

"I thought you were from Reefside," Kendrix said with a frown. "How do you know that Eric is a ranger?"

"But you're all rangers," Kira replied. "Aren't you?"

Eric gave Kendrix and Mike mild looks. Mike frowned and looked at her. Kendrix's jaw was hanging open and her eyes looked slightly glazed. "Are you?" Eric countered.

"I used to be," she said in a small voice. "But our gems lost their powers."

"I lost my powers too," Mike added. "I wouldn't worry about it."

"Wait a minute!" Kendrix jumped in. "You mean we're all Power Rangers?"

"It looks like it," Mike said slowly. "You were the Pink Galaxy Ranger and I was the Magna Defender. Eric's the Quantum Ranger. And Kira…" He trailed off and looked at her.

"The Yellow Dino Ranger," she supplied.

"So I guess Cam's the only one who wasn't a ranger," Kendrix stated.

Kira snapped to attention at the name 'Cam'. "What's his last name?" she asked.

"Wantanabe."

There was only one person Kira knew with the name Cam Wantanabe and she had met him when the Ninja Storm Rangers helped the Dino Thunder Rangers. "He was a ranger too—the Green Samurai Ranger. He doesn't have his powers though."

Eric gave Mike a sharp look. He raised his hands in surrender. "Don't look at me," he said. "I didn't plan this."

"Neither did Collins, apparently," Kendrix added.

"What a coincidence," Eric muttered sarcastically.

Mike stood up and held his hand out to Kira. "We'll pass your name onto Mr. Collins and you should have an interview by the end of the week." He paused. "We'll see you when you move in."

Kira stood as well and grasped his hand, shaking it slowly. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

She watched as the three of them filed from the room and disappeared down the hall that was now blessedly absent of salesmen and reporters. This was odd. Of a random choice of people, Mr. Collins had managed to recruit three former rangers and, in turn, the three former rangers recruited two more former rangers. What were the chances?

Well, at least the five of them would have some common ground to stand on. It was already going to be awkward enough, living with four virtual strangers and rooming with Kendrix. Mike had explained a lot of the procedures on the phone. Her manager opened the door and slipped into the dressing room, looking exhausted.

"Did you take the job with Bio-Lab?" he asked.

She nodded. "It seems like the best thing to do."

"Kira," he cried. "Do you understand all that you're giving up? Albums, tours… you could have more platinum albums and Grammies. Why? How is being a bounty hunter better than all of this?" He looked exasperated.

Kira gave him a level look. "Because I'll be no one's lapdog," she snapped. "I'm tired of doing what people tell me. I had eighteen years of my life where my parents or the school system was telling me what to do. I just want to be in charge of my own life!"

He looked defeated. "If you feel that way…"

"I do!"

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Cheesy Dramatization:** Mr. Collins is a bail bondsman (among other things), which means he loans people money to post the bond set by the court. The bond's purpose is to make it economically unpleasant for the suspect to skip town. Once the bond is posted, the incarcerated suspect is set free, thus enabling him to sleep in his own bed while awaiting trial. The price for using Collins' service is fifteen percent of the bond and is nonrefundable no matter what the outcome of the charges. If the bailee fails to appear for his court appearance, the court keeps Mr. Collins' money. Not just the fifteen percent profit. The court keeps the entire bail bond amount. This does not make Mr. Collins happy, so he forms a squad of bounty hunters to bring in bail jumpers. Their purpose is to bring the bailee back into the system, who is at this point officially a felon. If they find the FTA (Failure to Appear) in a timely fashion, then the court gives Mr. Collins his money back. For the purposes of this story, the people posting bail and the bailees all happen through the Silver Guardians. _(Adapted from Janet Evanovich's "Three To Get Deadly". I realize this is kind of cheesy, but it's the easiest way to explain it.)_

**Author's Note: (b)** To answer some of the general concerns in the reviews, no, this is not part of any of my other stories. If it was, then Eric would know Kendrix beyond a purely professional nature, but he doesn't. I'm trying to get back to the stories around 'Roaring On the Wind', but this isn't one of them. The associations are purely cannon (or what I feel the characters would know about each other given the cannon.) As for the inclusion of Kira, people have brought up really good reasons _not_ to include her, but I feel she's a little more athletic than people give her credit for. Plus, it seems to me that she would get into the spirit of things faster than some of the other characters who tend to go by the rule book (Cam, Kendrix...) With that, enough of me rambling! I've gone on quite enough. Keep leaving the great feedback!


	3. First Impressions

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part One: On the Run  
Chapter Three: First Impressions**

"Eric! Where did all those boxes Bio-Lab sent over go?"

"They're in the front room until we figure out what to do with them."

"Where's the label-maker?"

"Why?"

"I need to make labels for the shelves of the downstairs closet."

"Whatever happened to reading the labels on the boxes?"

Cam listened with idle interest to the exchange between Mike, Kendrix and Eric going on downstairs. He wouldn't have been able to hear it, if he had the door to the room he shared with Eric closed. The other rooms upstairs were locked, including the connecting doors in the bathrooms. Kira and Kendrix had their room. He and Eric had theirs and no one was able to get into the other rooms. He supposed they would recruit more people in a few months.

He was sitting in his desk chair, with his feet propped up on his bed, his laptop balanced across his thighs. The purpose of this exercise was to see if the network he had set up on the mainframe computer downstairs would be picked up by his personal computers. His desktop computer had picked it up without a problem. He was waiting for the laptop to finish booting up to make the test complete.

Glancing from the computer screen, he looked at Eric's half of the room. It was typical from what Cam could glean of the Quantum Ranger. (Mike had informed him, upon his arrival yesterday morning, that all of them had been rangers, so there was no need to keep it under wraps around each other.) His bed was neatly made and the only thing on the surface of his desk was his laptop. He had used his nightstand for a TV stand, so that piece of furniture was pushed in one corner, so everyone in the room could see. The dressers were in the closet and the closet door was shut, meaning no one could see the few articles of clothing the pair of them had that needed hanging up. No pictures of friends or family… nothing remotely sentimental. Cam hated to think what an entire house of Eric's must have looked like.

Before he left, the other Ninja Storm Rangers had pushed photos, mementos and other pointless trinkets on him. He had put the framed photos on his desk, but regulated the rest of the junk to his bottom desk drawer.

"You guys going for the Christmas look?"

Cam looked up from his laptop to see Kira standing in the doorway of his room. He then glanced around the room, looking for the basis of her question. He had a dark green plaid comforter. Eric had a dark red comforter. Red and green… Christmas colors…

"I guess so," he shrugged.

"That's okay," Kira replied, coming in and perching on his bed. "Mine and Kendrix's room looks like a flamingo and a canary threw up in it."

Cam snickered, his fingers flying over the keyboard as the computer started searching for the network.

"What are you doing?"

"Setting up a network," he replied. "I need the mainframe to be connected to my computers in order to download the surveillance system."

"Sounds logical," she said. Kira had arrived early that morning and had spent the morning unpacking and talking with Kendrix, until Mike recruited Kendrix to organize the boxes of stuff downstairs—guns, cuffs, pepper spray… you name it, it was downstairs. She nodded towards the TV and combination DVD/VCR. "Clever," she commented.

"You can blame that on Eric, not me. He did that before I ever got here."

Kira stood up and studied the movies that were neatly lined up on the shelf that made up the bottom portion of the nightstand. "He's got decent taste in movies," she decided. Cam had to agree with her on that. Eric did have decent taste in movies, even if he did have a prickly personality. He could almost see himself and Eric as different ends of a spectrum. Almost.

Cam smiled in a self-satisfied way when his laptop picked up the network. He moved the surveillance files and training simulations to the 'shared documents' folder. He wasn't sure how much use bounty hunters would get out of ninja training simulations, but it was something worth having around.

It was nice to have Kira here, he reflected. While he had wanted to leave the Wind Ninja Academy and branch out on his own, it had been a little frightening, thinking of throwing himself into a situation where he knew nothing and no one. He arrived yesterday morning and found out that Kira had joined the squad as well. Granted, he didn't know Kira as well as he knew the other ninja rangers, but he knew her. That had been enough to quell his nerves and launch him into professional mode, looking at the software they had and assessing what else they needed.

The computer and accessories Collins had provided would be enough for now. He could work within in the confines of it. In other words, he could still tap into military and police satellites and feeds for the information he needed—illicitly if he had to.

"I wonder if we'll have time to watch movies."

Cam looked up at Kira and smiled. "I'm sure we will. Eventually."

Kira moved back to her earlier perch on his bed. "I can't see you as the type to sit around and watch movies."

He shrugged. "Look at the people I had to hang out with for a year." During that year, he had been forced to sit through more stupid movies than he cared to remember. Shane and Dustin liked comedies, Hunter and Blake preferred gory, action films, while Tori gravitated towards romances. And when someone was lacking a movie buddy, he was the one they all defaulted to. His father always took their side, claiming he needed to get out more. Sitting through dumb movies was not his idea of a good time.

Of course, Eric's movies were more classic than anything else. _Star Wars_, _Indiana Jones_ and things of that ilk were on the partially filled shelf. Cam had added his meager movie collection to it—_the Time Machine_, _Rollerball_ and some other cult classic movies, including his copy of _the Rocky Horror Picture Show_. Not that he ever talked to anyone about his interest in the latter…

"Cam! Kira!" Mike called from downstairs. "We've got a meeting with Collins in half an hour and we need to leave now!"

"Duty calls," Kira said with a grin as she left his room and was heard shuffling around in her own room.

Kendrix passed by his door, also going to the girls' room. Cam shut down his laptop and put it on his bed. He picked up his jacket and pulled it on, meeting the two females as they came out of their room.

"Come on!" Mike called again.

Cam followed the girls downstairs and to the cars. He wasn't sure what the meeting with Collins was supposed to tell him, other than the things he already knew.

* * *

'We must look like a seriously motley crew,' Kendrix thought as the five of them gathered around Mr. Collins' desk in his office in the Bio-Lab building. She had never been summoned to his personal chambers before, mostly because she was on the bottom of the heap. Now, it was almost like Collins was viewing this as an experiment that he wanted to succeed. He never had meetings with entire groups of his employees… so this was automatically odd.

Motley crew… she tried not to smile at the phrase. Collins was not in his office. His secretary had shown them in and told them that Collins would be there in a moment. Eric was leaning against a filing cabinet, his eyes guarded and expression neutral. Mike was standing as well, but he looked comfortable being here. Cam and Kira were in the armchairs in front of the desk and both looked nervous. Kendrix just wanted this meeting to be over with, so she could get back to the townhouse and finish organizing the supply closet downstairs. She hated leaving a job unfinished. Mike had decided that ammo, extra cuffs, pepper spray and the like would be kept in the closet, but all the actual guns would be in Eric's possession. He would hand them out as he saw fit—meaning all of them would have a gun and have an idea of how to use it before they went on their first apprehension.

The silence was filled with tension. "Why aren't we talking?" Kira whispered.

That was enough to break the initial tension. Cam and Kendrix laughed, while Mike smiled appreciatively. "Everyone's too nervous to," Cam replied.

"The guy's our boss," Kendrix added. "We might as well get used to having meetings with him." She paused. "Especially because we're the difference between him making or losing money."

"I'd hate to be his kid," Kira muttered.

"No kidding," Cam agreed.

"How are we on the computer stuff?" Mike asked Cam.

The Green Samurai Ranger suddenly looked like that was a topic he wanted to talk about and felt comfortable doing so. "So far, so good," he replied. "I've got the network set up and I'm going to work on installing and configuring the programs when we get back." He paused and looked thoughtful. "I could also set up a VR training program I have in the front room. It's designed for ninjas in training, but it might be useful for us."

"Go ahead and set it up," Mike said. "Can't hurt."

"I'm also going to need satellites. We can set up our own on the roof or we can ask Collins for permission to tap into the ones the Silver Guardians use." Cam looked thoughtful. "I assume they can do heat-readings, traffic cams and satellite surveillance."

"They can," Eric said suddenly, causing everyone else to turn around and look at him. It was the first time he had spoken since everyone crammed themselves into Mike's SUV to come over here.

Cam was only thrown off for a moment. "Good," he replied. "I don't imagine it will be a problem since we're both branches of the same company."

"Shouldn't." Eric was into almost monosyllabic answers. Of course, in the limited interaction Kendrix had with him, it shouldn't have surprised her. He didn't waste time with idle chatter.

For the first time since arriving yesterday morning, Cam looked truly happy. Kendrix inwardly smiled. She knew nothing about Cam, but he seemed like a reserved person who hadn't had a lot of appreciation for his talents before.

"That is cool," Kira was saying. "I've only ever heard of that stuff being used on TV shows!" She might have been the youngest of the group and the one who had the most reasons to be jaded, but she looked more enthusiastic about the computer system than Cam.

"What kind of shows do you watch?" Mike asked in a teasing tone. "They don't talk about that stuff on the things I watch."

"Then you're not watching good shows," Kira replied easily, falling into the kind of easy banter that Mike was known for.

Mike held up his hands in surrender. "TV on Mirinoi sucks because we have to get most of it from Earth. Consequently, I stopped watching."

Kira shrugged. "I didn't used to, but I started when I would go on tour. It gets so boring that you're just looking for something to fill the time."

"Don't worry," Kendrix reassured her. "I don't think we'll have to worry about being bored."

The doors to the office opened and Mr. Collins entered. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologized as he rounded his desk and sat down behind it. He put a dossier in the top drawer and pulled out a file folder. He then looked up at them with a cool blue-eyed gaze. "I guess 'welcome to Bio-Lab' isn't appropriate for everyone present?"

They chuckled appreciatively. The sentiment was true. For all intents and purposes, she and Eric had worked for Bio-Lab before ever becoming bounty hunters. This was striking her as one of the times where it was unwise to differ with the boss.

"You're all clear on your duties?" he asked.

Five heads bobbed almost in unison.

He opened the file folder and pulled out their contracts. "You've all signed your contracts already, but I'd like to go over a few of the finer points. The initial contract duration is one year. Bio-Lab does have the option to renew it." He paused. "If we don't choose to renew the contracts, you will be given two weeks' notice."

Hardly enough time for them to find other living accommodations and a new job, but Kendrix hoped she would save up enough to money to make that a non-issue. Hopefully, all of them would still have jobs when the first year was up. She couldn't think of a reason for Collins to terminate them, unless they proved to be the most inept bounty hunters of all time.

Collins launched into the code of conduct expected of all employees especially the ones living in company housing. In other words, be discreet if a wild party or orgy was going on. Random drug testing, requests for equipment, operating reports, bonuses and pay raises… it was nothing that Kendrix didn't already know about. There was a company-wide Christmas ball held yearly and random picnics and parties for certain divisions, meaning (since they were their own division), all of them would be expected to attend parties held in their honor. He went on to detail their petty cash use and payroll procedures. (All of them should have already been down to payroll to get things straightened out.)

He asked if there were any questions. No one had one. "I hope you'll all be happy here," he ended, before putting their contracts in his desk and leaving the room.

"That was like a bad lecture from high school," Kira muttered.

"Hopefully it will be the last one," Mike commiserated.

Kendrix doubted that. They had to send a representative to the monthly board meetings and that person was going to spend an afternoon each month being bored. Maybe they could take turns going to the board meetings—it would make it more bearable.

"Come on," Mike said. "Let's go see Carmella for our first round of skips."

* * *

Not only did they have to send someone to board meetings, they also had to send someone down to the Silver Guardians headquarters every two or three days to pick up the stacks of FTAs that came in. Eric found that irritating. The Silver Guardians had people that acted as couriers, bringing memos and information around to the squad cars. They couldn't spare someone to bring the FTAs straight to their townhouse?

He didn't know what to think about that. Something was afoot, but he wasn't sure what it was or how to respond to it. Had someone forgotten something in the works?

"How do these people get off on bail?" Kendrix asked.

"Who's the skip?" he asked.

Kendrix was holding the file away from her as if it contained something poisonous. "Andy Kruper," she read off. "Brought in on domestic abuse charges, assault on a police officer and arson."

"Welcome to the world of the law, babe," he muttered.

"Excuse me?"

Eric shook his head. "I've had to bring him in for failure to appear before. He knows the drill. Just watch out. If he can't find his gun, he resorts to throwing food."

Kendrix had a horrified expression on her face. Eric chose not to respond to that. He glanced at the stack of file folders. For now, they needed to be divided into the ones that he and Mike needed to bring in and the ones that Kendrix and Kira could handle while Cam concentrated on getting the computer up and running.

"Sampson Chandler," Mike read aloud.

"Drunk," Eric replied. "Probably driving drunk. You can find him in the bar on Chestnut. He's no trouble to bring in—he's always too drunk to remember his court date."

Mike nodded, placing Andy Kruper in one stack and Sampson Chandler in another stack. It was almost sad that he knew who most of these people were—they were the chronic failure to appear crowd and he had had to send out Silver Guardian squads on more than one occasion to bring them in. In fact, he had to do the take-down more often than not.

"How do we go about bringing these people in?" Kira asked.

"Cuff them, shackle them, throw them in the back seat of the car and drive them to the Silver Guardians' headquarters." He paused at her surprised expression. "Al is normally posted on the backdoor drop-off and he'll take over from there."

Mike smiled as he continued dividing the files. There weren't too many considering that it was their first official day on the job. He supposed it was a good thing that he used to be a Silver Guardian and knew the drill. Of course, the others would pick it up quickly enough.

"Sampson Chandler, Arthur Moon, Jack Newcomb and Delilah Caplan," Mike read off the names of the 'easy' stack. Eric nodded. All of them were complacent drunks, stoners or bag ladies downtown.

The others would take more work. They might catch them hiding out at their houses or it might take a few days, planting seeds with relatives and friends, letting the person who had posted the bail know that they could lose their house…

Kendrix looked horrified as Mike handed the files on the easy skips to her. "You and Kira work on these for today," he said.

"Us?" Kendrix squeaked.

"You have to learn how to do it," Mike replied.

Kira let out a long breath as she and Kendrix stood up and went upstairs to get their things. He could hear them talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. He could pretty much tell them where to find the people. Chandler was in the bar on Chestnut. Moon would be stoned at his house. Newcomb would be drunk with Chandler. Caplan would be downtown in the park, sitting on her bench. The take-downs wouldn't be too difficult, if the girls didn't buy their stalling.

"Think they can do it?" Mike asked.

Eric shrugged. "If they don't buy the excuses."

Distant clicking of a computer keyboard was coming from the front room. Cam was holed up in there, setting up the surveillance system and tapping into the feeds that the Silver Guardians used. As soon as the computer work was done and Cam had given everyone a crash course, he was going out on take-downs and stakeouts as well.

The girls reappeared in the kitchen. "You guys have everything?" Mike asked. "Gun, cuffs, pepper spray, shackles?"

They nodded.

Time for the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. "Are the guns loaded?" Eric asked.

"Of course," Kira said as they disappeared into the garage. They listened as the garage door opened and a car started.

Mike pushed the remaining files towards him. Eric picked the one on the top up. Oh this guy… Vito Baldacci was a retired mafia member who had relocated to Silver Hills for retirement. He was forever being caught in drug busts, arms busts and just about any kind of busts there are to be caught in.

"This guy is going to be holed up somewhere," Eric said. "Normally if we go by his house and remind his wife that she'll lose the house and be out on the streets if Vito isn't brought in, she spills where he is." He paused. "The actual take-down will be a little more complicated. He's in pretty good shape for someone almost seventy."

Corbett grimaced. Eric looked at the next file…

"Want me to give you the lecture on this guy?" he asked.

Mike shook his head. "Let's concentrate on finding these people. If you're sure they'll be hiding out at their houses, then we'll get them this afternoon. If we can't find them, then we start the searching thing tomorrow morning."

Eric nodded. "Logical."

"I just want to see Kendrix and Kira bringing in these people."

"We could always go over the Silver Guardians' headquarters. There's an office no one uses on the second floor that looks over the back alley. Best seats in the house."

"Let's go get Baldacci."

They got up from the kitchen island and Mike went into the front room, where Cam was still working furiously. "Keep working on the computer," Mike told him. "If you have time, we need a communication system. Also be ready to be back-up if Kendrix and Kira need help."

There was an affirmative noise.

"Let's go," Mike said.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the support and feedback so far! I hope everyone is clear on what is happening. :) So, onto review responses for the people that reviewed chapter 2 and everyone gets a smiley:

**cmar**: Thanks! The idea for this came from reading one too many Janet Evanovich books. I do like to throw odd groups together- it's one of those things I think about during boring classes. :) The ante will be upped in the next part, but for the first part nothing too out of the ordinary happens. I hope you keep on reading!

**fenestrae**: Thanks! Keep on reading... :)

**Firehunter**: Thanks:)

**Funky In Fishnet**: Thanks! I've been watching Time Force on PRG in the mornings and have come to this conclusion- Eric is a such a bastard but I love him for it! Glad you like the story so far. :)

**jenny**: Glad you like it! I've always thought that Eric has a penchant for over-reacting to strange things. I'm not a fan of writing OCs in fan fiction, but this group was never supposed to feature OCs. As for the rest, that will come in later. Thanks for reading:)

**Juzblue**: Updating... here 'tis:)

**Sreym**: I'm glad you approve of the choices. I hope this stays interesting... :)

**Warstock-Leonhart**: Thanks! You are so sweet! I appreciate the support and the encouragement. :)

**white time ranger**: Oh Wes... he will figure into this much more in the next part. The original idea for this story was to have the sixth rangers from LR through NS being the four males with Kendrix and Kira as the two females. In other words, Wes wasn't part of the original line-up. I'm glad you like the story. :)


	4. Street Fights

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part One: On the Run  
Chapter Four: Street Fights**

"Mike, we have to get Kendrix, Kira and Cam concealed carry permits and all of them need to go to the shooting range."

Mike looked up mildly as Eric stormed into the front room of the house, effectively the nerve center of their operations. He had been going through the latest bout of paperwork that he had picked up that morning. He hadn't been anticipating a confrontation with Eric before noon, but it looked like he was going to get one.

"None of them can use a normal gun?" he questioned.

Eric looked frustrated beyond belief. "All of them are used to the laser guns that came with their ranger powers and never caused any damage besides a burn mark." There was a distinct note of sarcasm underlying his words. "Not a single one of them is comfortable using a revolver." And even softer, under his breath, "They can't aim with them either."

"Do they have to be?" Mike responded to the first comment.

"I can't get them laser guns from the guardians, because I'm no longer a guardian."

"Can we ask Collins to provide us with some?"

He shook his head. "I doubt it. We're the grunge of the police force. I don't think he's going to fork over mass amounts of money to get five people laser guns, when it doesn't look like we should need them."

"If we proved the need?"

"Look, assuming we prove the need, we won't get them for at least another two weeks. In that time, we have to make do with what we've got." He paused and raked a hand through his black hair. "Besides, I doubt they'll need to use the guns on the skips. I would just feel better if they knew what they were doing."

Mike nodded. He trusted Eric's judgment regarding things of that nature. "So what made you come to this conclusion?"

"You really want to know?"

He probably didn't, so he decided a change of subject would be a good idea. "You know, not everyone was in the military." Both he and Eric had spent time in the military, so weapons training had been an integral part of their work. The pair of them were used to all kinds of guns, grenades, rockets and anything else that the military used. It was never as sophisticated as things that organizations like the GSA used though.

Eric's hard expression softened. "I don't want them getting hurt."

There was the softer side of Eric that he had been waiting to come out all week. He also had a point. It was necessary that they all be trained on the weapons that Collins provided. It also wouldn't hurt for them to know those things, even if he was able to convince Collins that they needed the laser guns.

"So did you guys get the skips?"

"Piece of cake," Eric replied, reaching into his jacket pocket and handing the body receipts over to Mike. They had got the people that Eric had said they would. Both were pretty easy in the overall terms of what they could be facing.

He started to file the receipts away for the reports they filed with Collins, but didn't get a chance. Kendrix stomped into the front room, an almost exact duplicate of what Eric had done. Mike had forgotten that she got intimidating when she was mad… and Kendrix Morgan was not a happy camper right now.

"Hi, Kendrix," he said in the same mild tone. "I hear you guys got the skips."

Cam came in a few seconds after Kendrix, took the receipts from him and began to start on the necessary paperwork.

Kendrix's glare was enough to rival Eric's. "I am tired of being treated like a stupid woman!" she growled.

It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her that she was a woman, but he refrained from saying that. "Who's treating you like a stupid woman?" he asked, instead. She was a woman, but she wasn't stupid, far from it.

Her pointed glare at Eric was answer enough.

Mike stood up and gently cupped her elbow, guiding her out of the room. "Excuse us," he said to Eric and Cam. The latter didn't even look up while the expression of the former didn't change at all. He steered Kendrix through the living room and into the kitchen. There, he sat her down on one of the stools. "What has got you so upset?" he asked.

"Eric," she spat.

"Kendrix," he replied gently. "Eric knows what he's doing. I know he can be a little impatient and hard to get along with-"

"It's beyond that!" Kendrix cried. "It's like he hates us."

Mike was starting to feel like an elementary school teacher. "He doesn't hate you. You've worked with Eric before. You know how he is."

Kendrix remained silent. There were times that Mike thought he knew her too well for her own good. She just needed a minute to calm down and then she would start to think rationally again. It was difficult to get Kendrix this worked up, though, quite frankly, Mike was surprised Eric hadn't managed this sooner.

"Do you want me to send you and Kira out tomorrow?"

That got a mournful laugh out of her. "Our take-downs tend to be like Laurel and Hardy gone wrong."

"At least it's amusing to write up."

"Don't give us anyone who throws food."

"Yeah!" Kira appeared from the side door that led to the garage. "The last time that happened, the guy threw eggs and now I've got a shirt that has eggshells glued to it."

Mike tried not to laugh. It amazed him how many ridiculous situations Kendrix and Kira had managed to get themselves into in the space of a week. He was also glad that Kira was working out as a member of the group. She might not have the martial arts or combat training that the others had, but she could hold her own in a fight and she had speed. He had been with her yesterday and watched her chase down a skip in the amount of time it would have taken the rest of them to get out of the car.

"Just try to get along with Eric," he told Kendrix. He would have offered to talk to Eric, but he had a feeling that there were overreactions to what had happened on all parties.

Kendrix and Kira disappeared upstairs. Mike propped his chin on the palm of his hand, still sitting at the island in the kitchen. He had known that the working dynamic between them was going to be explosive, but he hadn't counted on just how explosive. It made him wonder how Cam was handling rooming with Eric. He stood up and went into the front room to warn Eric to be a little more understanding with the girls.

* * *

Cam frowned to himself. This stake-out was getting them nowhere. Wherever this guy was, it wasn't in his house. He brought up the files on his computer. When the paperwork on a new FTA came in, he logged it into the mainframe computer and put it in the shared documents. The theory was that everyone on the network would be able to see the FTAs at large anytime they wanted. It was more efficient than trying to share the paper files.

He sighed. They had a skip who was a first timer. He had apparently gotten drunk with his buddies and, with his father's gun, shot up a bunch of cars. His mother had posted the bond, meaning she probably knew where he was. He worked in the hot dog stand in the mall. Cam closed the file. The van was within walking distance of the mall.

The townhouse complex was quiet. "Mike, I'm going to walk over to the mall and see about the first timer."

Mike nodded. "Go ahead. Things are quiet here."

"Call me if something comes up."

"Ditto."

Cam nodded, put his laptop under the passenger seat and climbed out of the van. It was hard to believe that they had been doing this a little over a week. Collins idea of a small bond agency did not coincide with anyone else's. He had no idea how the Silver Guardians had managed normal police work and this. They were barely handling this. Between working on the computer and modifying the training simulations, he barely had time to think, let alone have some free time.

The air was cool and a slight breeze made it a pleasant day. It gave him some time to organize his thoughts. Their working dynamic was odd, at best. He found it better to do what he had done so many times in Ninja Ops—ignore the activity around him unless he felt that his two cents worth was absolutely necessary. Normally, it wasn't. Between Eric and Mike going after the dangerous skips and Kendrix and Kira handling the more complacent ones, he had almost found himself lost in the pull. Of course, there was that group outing to the shooting range that evening.

Kendrix and Kira didn't see how he shared a room with Eric and had moderately no problems. That was simply because he was the bad roommate, not Eric. To the public, Cam had a persona of being neat and organized. In private, he was a mess. His work was always neat and orderly and he knew where everything was. It was almost like he needed an area of contained chaos, just so that the order and routine didn't turn him into a robot. When he had been in college or back at the ninja academy that chaos had been the state of his bedroom. To a lesser degree, it was happening here, but he hadn't been here long enough for that chaos to take over. That was something he could do when they got back from the shooting range that night—do some cleaning maintenance on his side of the room.

Eric didn't bother him, like he tended to bother Kendrix and Kira. The pair of them had a mutual understanding. Eric wouldn't encroach on his territory of computers and technology and Cam wouldn't question his methods for the actual field work. Kendrix and Kira were both more than capable of handling the field work, but tended to resent Eric's 'my way or the highway' attitude.

The mall wasn't crowded as it was the middle of the week in the middle of the day. He walked quickly to the food court—with the hot dog stand in the middle. The kid he was after was at work. Pretend it didn't happen and it would all go away? Real life never worked that way. The kid's mother had posted his bond—why didn't she make sure he showed up in court?

He waited until there was no one in line at the hog dog stand.

The two kids at the counter looked at him expectantly as he approached. "Can I help you?" the skip asked.

"Fugitive apprehension agent," he said. "I represent your bond agency. You failed to appear in court."

The kid paled. "Oh… uh… I forgot."

"You'll need to come with me and reschedule." And then sit in jail until the new court date rolled around.

"I can't go now! I'm at work."

"I'm sure your co-worker can handle things by himself for today." If there was one thing he had learned in the past week, it was not to take excuses from the people they had to bring in.

"It's not a good idea…"

"Now," Cam said in a firm voice that left no room for argument. He had pulled that voice out more than once on Dustin and Shane when they were doing something particularly dumb. It was enough to silence their antics and it was more than enough for this kid, because he left the hot dog stand, looking nervous.

Cam pulled the cuffs from his jacket pocket and cuffed the kid before placing one hand on his shoulder and guiding him out of the mall. With the other hand, he called Mike. "Meet me at the north entrance to the mall," he said simply.

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

Mike showed up in less than two minutes. Cam put the kid in the back of the van and Mike locked all the doors before heading for the Silver Guardians' headquarters. Half an hour later, the kid was locked up and they had their body receipt.

"He came in without a fuss," Mike commented.

Cam shrugged. "He was scared." Never mind the fact that Cam didn't have a gun or pepper spray on him when telling the kid to come with him. However, he knew that it wasn't always this easy.

Mike steered the van back towards the townhouse.

"Are you guys going to the shooting range tonight?"

"Yeah." Cam let out a long breath. Kendrix and Kira had been going after their final drunk of the week, while Eric was supposed to be asking around about someone charged with grand auto theft.

"That stake-out was a bust. I'll go around later tonight and talk to all the neighbors."

He nodded. That gave him sometime to work on cleaning the starting mess that his room was becoming. Then he needed to finish the changes to the simulations and eat something before getting dragged off places.

This was the weirdest job he had ever had… or thought he would have.

"I'll do the paperwork," Mike said as they pulled into the garage.

"All right." Cam trailed behind him, wondering how he was going to finish all the things that he needed to do.

* * *

"That was below average."

Kendrix sighed as the simulation gave way to the 'lab' as the front room of the house had been dubbed. The simulation had been one modified from the ninja training. It was obvious that it had been meant for the ninja rangers, but had FTA elements added to it. However, it worked out well enough for them. The point of the exercise was to apprehend a person. Eric had loaded the guns with blanks before the simulation started.

Cam was sitting at a table in the corner and had been monitoring the simulation from his laptop. Eric had been with him, a frown firmly in place on his face. Mike was supposed to be going down the Silver Guardian's headquarters to get more paperwork. She exchanged a glance with Kira, not sure who would start lecturing first—the ninja or the cop.

"You know why he got away?" Eric asked.

"Why?" Kira retorted, sarcasm dripping from the word.

Eric ignored the unspoken barb. "You need to split up. One of you takes the back of the house and the other takes the front."

"What if it takes both of us to apprehend the guy?"

"Make enough noise and the person at the front or back of the house can be there in a few seconds."

"And the winner is not necessarily the stronger opponent," Cam added.

"This isn't ninja school, Cam," Kira snapped.

"No," the samurai agreed. "It's not. But you don't have to be stronger than someone to best them in a fight."

"Prove it."

Kendrix let out a long breath as Cam gave Kira a bored look and stood up. He motioned to Eric and the pair of them moved into the center of the room. She wasn't sure what happened next, but Eric had moved at Cam and, a second later, was on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the room. And Eric was stronger than Cam. Kendrix frowned because that looked like it hurt.

"See?" Cam said, holding out a hand to help Eric up.

"Point taken," Kira muttered.

"But we're not all ninjas, Cam," Kendrix told him.

"Maybe you should be," he replied, moving back to his laptop.

"We don't have time for ninja training on top of everything else."

"Make time," Eric said in an even tone.

"Do it again," Cam told the pair of them, stopping any forthcoming arguments about their time management.

She fought the urge to glare as the front room disappeared and she and Kira were standing on a sidewalk in a nondescript neighborhood. The purpose of this simulation was to apprehend the skip hiding in his house. Ordinarily, the skip would answer the door and then run into the house. However, since Cam was controlling the simulation, she wasn't entirely sure what would happen.

"I'll take the back," Kira muttered.

Kendrix watched as she disappeared around the side of the house. She took a deep breath and walked up to the front door of the house. She rang the doorbell and waited. There was some shuffling from within and the door opened.

"Yeah," a man asked.

This was their skip—named Vernon Rawlings for some unknown reason.

"Mr. Rawlings?" she asked. The man grunted in confirmation. "I represent your bond agency. You failed to appear in court."

"I'm not going to court. It was a bogus charge."

"If you come with me, you can tell that to the court."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Kendrix stepped forward, pulling the cuffs from her jacket pocket. The guy turned and fled into the house. She heard a window smash and ran into the back part of the house in time to see Kira tackle the guy. Kendrix ran forward and managed to cuff him.

The pair of them hauled him to his feet and started to drag him out of the house. The simulation would end successfully when they got him to their fake car. Kira unlocked the car and they pushed the guy into the backseat. Kendrix put the shackles on him to keep him from going anywhere and slammed the car door closed.

"Simulation ended," a voice said.

The fake neighborhood faded away again and they were standing in the front room once more. Cam was nodding in approval.

"That was nice," Eric said. "Just try not to break any more windows."

"What if we came to the house and the window was already broken?" Kira asked.

The Quantum Ranger raised an eyebrow, the ghost of a smile over his lips. "Starting to think like a bounty hunter," he said. "If we don't know how the window got broken, then it would be stupid not use that as an obvious entrance to the house."

Kendrix looked at Eric. His expression had softened. His eyes, normally like cold black stones, had softened as well. They almost looked like… melted chocolate. She shook her head and took over Cam's duties at the laptop while Eric and Cam got ready to take their turn through the simulation.

Kira was laughing to herself as she sat down in the chair formerly occupied by Eric. "I didn't know we could bend the law so much."

"Don't ask, don't tell," Kendrix replied and started the simulation.

The laptop followed heat signatures through the simulation. She watched as one of the guys rounded the back of the house and the other took the front door to do the initial speech to the skip. At the last minute, she had the guy go out a window in the side of the house. The person in the back had him cornered and cuffed in less than a minute.

"How do they do that?" Kira asked.

"Search me."

The skip was put in the car and the simulation ended itself, revealing Eric and Cam standing in the middle of the room.

"How do you guys always manage to finish the simulation faster than us?" Kira asked Cam as he came back to the laptop.

"I'm a ninja," he replied. "It's not that hard to catch people."

"Yeah, well," Kira muttered. "Eric just runs through back allies, A-Team style."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Eric replied.

Mike entered the front room, carrying a stack of file folders. "I turned in all the paperwork and picked up the new stuff." He looked around at the four of them gathered around the laptop with no one arguing or muttering things under their breath. "I see you guys are getting along," he commented.

"You have no idea," Kira responded.

Cam was tapping at the laptop keys. "Kira, run through the alley simulation with Eric."

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **It's the crack of dawn... I had to get up for pre-registration for classes. We do nothing on-line at this ridiculous college. So, since I'm up at the crack of dawn, I figured I'd update. (Well, it's not the crack of dawn anymore. I had to go to the registrar's and then I went to Starbucks and then I watched Time Force... but what's the difference?) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! It means a bunch to me! One more chapter for this part and then we enter part 2... :) 


	5. Chase Scene

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part One: On the Run  
Chapter Five: Chase Scene**

Going to the shooting range was fast becoming an odd form of bonding. Eric crossed his arms over his chest and studied the targets that Kendrix, Cam and Kira had been using. Cam could hold his own, having picked up what to do quickly enough. He had picked up how to compensate for gravity. Well, he was a mechanical genius and had enough physics to make a normal person dizzy. It was no wonder that he picked things up so quickly.

The girls were another story. Girls… women… he mentally corrected himself. Someone had already been offended because he referred to them as 'girls' to Mike. In fact, 'Kendrix and Kira' would probably be the safest thing to say. The fact of the matter was he used the term 'girls' to refer to any female under the age of about sixty. Seeing as the pair of them was well under that, he didn't see a problem. It didn't bother him when they referred to himself, Cam and Mike as the 'boys.'

Kira was doing all right. At close range, she'd be able to wound someone without causing serious amounts of damage. The last take-down he had gone on with her, she hadn't even pulled out her gun, just tackled the guy. The direct approach did work. And Mike had been right about how fast she was. She was giving Cam a run for his money and he was fast by the virtue of being a ninja.

He glanced at Kendrix. When they would first arrive here, she would do all right, hitting the targets in a fairly predictable pattern. As the evening would wear on, it was like her skills would deteriorate. That he didn't understand. She had to be able to hit a human-sized target at fifty meters in order to be in the GSA. That meant she had extensive upper body weight training and balance—and she had been trained on both standard and laser guns. It wasn't because she was getting tired. Something was wrong with her and—he stopped and stared at her, not believing that he had missed it. She was having trouble with the recoil from the standard guns.

Kendrix set down her gun to reload it. Eric pushed himself from where he had been leaning against the wall and walked over to her.

"Kendrix?"

"What?" she asked, her tone tired and cranky.

"Are you all right?" He said the question carefully. There had been a few female guardians and most of them got offended if the males tried to baby them. Questions had to be bland enough to sound like a general question he asked everyone. Plus, she needed to get around to telling him the problem herself. He would be patient…

"Why?" she countered.

"You're getting worse." It was a fact that couldn't be denied. "And you shouldn't be tired yet." He wanted to shake her to get her to admit to it. No… He. Would. Be. Patient.

Her face fell. "I know."

Eric tried to curb the instinct to lash out at her. "Are you _really_ tired?" Maybe it was just one of those girl things that he didn't understand and didn't want to understand. It didn't necessarily have to be chronic—she could just be having trouble tonight.

"No."

"Then what's going on?" He paused. "You were a GSA officer! I know for a fact that you had to have been able to hit a human-sized target at fifty meters. You've had weight training and balance! You've been trained on standard and laser guns!"

Tears began to fill her dark blue eyes. He inwardly cursed himself. In the two weeks that all of them had been living together, the one thing he hadn't done was make one of the girls cry. Now that he had just accomplished that, he could safely say he had done just about everything possible to piss them off.

Eric gently took her arm, steering her out of her booth and towards the side exit. On the way, he passed Cam and poked him in the back. The ninja turned around. Eric pointed towards the exit. He nodded in affirmation and went back to what he had been doing.

The night air was cool when he guided Kendrix outside. She pulled away from him and began to wipe at her eyes.

"What is wrong?" he asked, hoping that the impatience he felt hadn't been conveyed in his voice. She just needed to tell him…

She sniffed violently and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "That was unprofessional. I'll go back now." She started for the door.

Eric grabbed her arm, stopping her progress. "What the hell was that?" he spat. "I'm not your superior anymore, Kendrix! Quit acting like I am!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes you are!" He paused and let go of her arm, raking a hand through his hair. "The only person who can order us around is Mike!"

"Then why do you?"

There was another unspoken accusation underneath her words. She knew the story of how he became the commander of the Silver Guardians—anyone who worked for Bio-Lab or any other company Collins owned knew that story. It painted him as a career climber, someone willing to do anything to reach his goals. She was insinuating that that was what he was doing here—trying to replace Mike.

"I'm trying to keep you alive," he said softly. "I know it sounds like I'm ordering you around, but… you can tell me to go to hell if you want."

"But Mike lets you."

"Mike trusts me," he countered. "Of the five of us, I have the most experience doing police related work." He paused. "He trusts my judgment." And he wouldn't still be working on this squad if Mike didn't… There was a difference between letting someone take over and acknowledging that that person had more expertise in the area. Mike was quickly learning the ropes and, soon enough, Eric wouldn't be giving orders or even suggestions. All of that would be Mike's territory.

Kendrix nodded. "I think I knew that."

Eric sighed. "You want to tell me what's wrong now?"

She looked at a spot somewhere beyond his shoulder. "It's going to sound stupid."

"I'm willing to bet it's not stupid."

"I don't like the recoil from standard guns," she whispered. "I was part of the Terra Venture employees and all we used was laser guns."

Finally, she admitted what was wrong. She should have just said that in the first place and saved him all this drama. He wasn't sure whether he should kiss her or strangle her. "It takes some getting used to, but you will get used to it again." He paused. "Come on."

They went back into the building. Cam glanced at them as they passed and his raised eyebrow was enough to reveal what he had been thinking. Eric gave him a pointed glare which warned him to keep his mouth shut. He corrected Kendrix's sagging posture and guided her as she continued with the target practice. He was all too aware of the slim body his arms were around, but he banished the thoughts. Now was not the time… especially not after… he banished that thought too.

* * *

"So Kendrix has been doing a lot better since the last time you guys went to the shooting range," Mike gave Eric a sidelong glance. The Quantum Ranger didn't say anything. What he wouldn't have given to have Leo around. Leo was a master at wheedling information out of people before they even realized what he was doing.

"Is there a reason you think this guy is going to be at his house?" Eric changed the subject. The FTAs for the week had slowed down enough that they could take a minute to breathe. The most recent guy was the one giving them trouble. Myers had been pretty sure that he wouldn't be at his house, but since it was the only place that they hadn't checked, Mike figured that it wouldn't hurt.

"It's the only place we haven't looked," Mike replied. "It's worth a shot."

Eric didn't reply, just let out a long breath. If there was one thing Mike had learned about Eric, it was that he did follow orders, even if he was scheming to replace a leader. Of course, that seemed like it should be the least of his worries surrounding Eric. The man had to have an ulterior motive for leaving the guardians and joining the bounty hunters. He might tell others—and himself—that he did it for the pay raise, but there was something else. This career move didn't quite gel with what else he had seen of the Quantum Ranger.

Myers stopped the car in front of the suspect's house. Mike gave him a pointed look before they got out of the car and walked up to the front of the house. Eric immediately rounded the house and headed for the back. That was acceptable protocol if there was reason to believe the suspect was in the house. It also meant that Eric was covering his ass by going along with what Mike seemed to think.

Lights were on. Mike stepped up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

A woman wearing a bathrobe with her hair in curlers opened the door. "Yeah?"

Mike forced a professional smile. "I'm Mike Corbett, ma'am. I represent Collins' Bond Agency. Is Carl Mancuso here? He missed his court date and needs to reschedule."

The woman didn't even give him a second look. She turned into the house and bellowed, "CARL! THERE'S SOMEONE HERE TO SEE YOU!" Bingo…

He fought the urge to hold his ears. A skinny man in his late thirties came pounding down the stairs and looked at Mike. He was unshaven and stank of alcohol. "What do you want?" he asked, wiping the drool off his chin with the back of his hand.

Mike gave the speech about being with his bond agency once more. The man looked at him and blinked.

"You're one of those bounty hunters, ain't ya'?"

"I prefer fugitive apprehension agent." That had Mr. Mancuso confused. "I need you to come with me to reschedule your court appearance."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Mike stepped forward, but Mancuso was faster and ran off into the house. He fumbled with a drawer in the kitchen and produced a small .38 caliber revolver. Mike sighed and pulled his own gun out of his jacket. "Put the gun down," he ordered.

Eric came in through the back door and Mancuso was effectively cornered in his own kitchen. "Drop the gun," Eric said, leveling his own gun at the man.

Carl fired his gun. Mike ducked out of instinct, something that the GSA taught trainees to do when they heard gun fire. He glanced up and Carl Mancuso was running out of the house and down the dark street. Eric was clutching his left arm, a blood stain blossoming over his jacket.

"Go get that bastard!" Eric growled through clutched teeth.

Mike didn't think twice. He sprinted out of the house and took off after Mancuso. The man was obviously out of shape, because Mike could hear him wheezing down the street. The woman who had been in his house was standing on the front porch laughing. He didn't stop to roll his eyes as he quickly closed the gap between himself and Mancuso.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, he tackled Mancuso, the adrenaline running through his body and the joy of this small triumph running through his mind.

"Get off!" the man yelled.

Mike pulled the cuffs off his belt and put them on Mancuso. "Get up," he ordered, dragging the man to his feet.

Apparently, this guy knew when he was cornered, because he walked towards the car. Mike pushed him into the backseat and put the shackles on him, preventing an escape. Kendrix and Kira had had someone open the lock on the door with their feet and get away. That had also been a waste of a perfectly good pair of handcuffs…

Eric stumbled out of the house and met Mike on the street. He was still clutching his arm and he was pale—in pain.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Let's get this bastard to headquarters."

"You need to go to the hospital," Mike countered.

"It just grazed me—I'm fine."

"No, you're not!" Mike glanced to the backseat where their skip was. The skip needed to be taken care of, but he was pretty sure that Eric needed stitches at the least, maybe even a tetanus shot. Besides, Eric looked like he was trying to valiantly downplay what had happened to him. "I'll drop you off at the ER," he said.

Eric frowned and got into the car. He knew better than to disobey what could become a direct order from his superior. The hospital was closer than the Silver Guardians headquarters, so it was even less of an issue.

He took Eric to the hospital and then took care of the skip.

A young cub guardian was doing the paperwork—and being excruciatingly slow about it. Mike pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, not wanting to strand Eric at the hospital. There had been times when he knew that Leo felt like he had abandon him, like when he was going on Terra Venture and was going to leave Leo on Earth. It always killed him to do that to his brother—and it had spread to everyone.

The phone rang a few times before someone at the townhouse picked it up.

"Hello?" It was Cam. "City morgue."

"Are you trying to scare people off?"

There was a pause. "Oh! Hey Mike! No… there was this telemarketer that called here a couple dozen times in a row. They hung up last time I said 'city morgue'."

"Look, Eric's at the hospital and I'm hung up at the guardians'."

"He's at the hospital? What happened?"

"A skip shot him."

Cam let out a low whistle. "You want one or two of us to go down there to be with him?"

It was more of a statement than a question. Mike smiled to himself. "Yeah."

"No problem." Cam paused. "I'll take Kira with me. Kendrix is probably asleep by now." There was another pause. "I think Kira has cabin fever."

More like townhouse fever. "Thanks. I'll meet you guys there."

"Okay. See you in a few. Bye."

"Bye." He disconnected the call. He stared back at the paperwork. Could a person possibly go any slower?

* * *

This was the world's biggest waste of time. Eric sat on one of the tables in an examining room, glancing to his bandaged arm. It had required a few stitches—that was all. For a precaution, the doctor wanted him to have a tetanus shot. The nurse was supposed to come in and give it to him so he could fill out all the necessary paperwork and get out of here before prime time television was over. However, it appeared that the nurse had gotten lost.

There was a tap on the glass window in the door.

He looked up and a smile spread over his face.

Kira had her face pressed up against the glass, nose and mouth smashed, with her eyes crossed, effectively looking like a cartoon rendition of road kill. Cam was just behind her, giving her bunny ears with a nonchalant look on his face. Kendrix pushed past them and opened the door, causing Kira to lunge forward and catch herself just before she fell.

"Give me some warning," she told the former Galaxy Ranger.

Kendrix, however, ignored Kira and crossed the room to him. Her eyes really were dark blue—no one noticed them because of her glasses. Her hair was down and she was wearing her pajamas—a white tank top and pink pajama pants that had sheep on them. She had blonde hair that looked silky and not teased, like Taylor's had. No… he couldn't allow himself to fall for her. He had fallen for the last blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl that came his way and that had ended in a complete and utter disaster.

But he already had. Kendrix was so incredibly different from Taylor…

She took the hand of his uninjured arm, her eyes going to the bandage around his left arm. "Are you all right?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. He gently squeezed her hand.

"Are you guys sharing a moment?" Kira asked. "Because we can leave."

Eric looked up at the pair of them, willing himself to not start blushing at this point in his life. "No," he said quickly. Kendrix tried to pull her hand from his, but he held fast, threading his fingers through hers. He met her gaze. She went from confused to comfortable in a second, a smile settling over her face.

"I can't believe you got shot," Kira said with a grin.

"I didn't get shot," he said testily. "A bullet grazed me."

"A bullet hit you, didn't it? That's called 'getting shot' in my book."

"Whatever." He didn't feel like discussing the finer points of flying bullets with Kira at this point in his life.

"Were you going to call one of us to pick you up?" Cam asked idly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Perhaps," he answered evasively. Cam had a way of getting people to tell him exactly what he wanted to know without that person realizing they had told him anything. His roommate had already found out about his true reasons for leaving the Silver Guardians, or more, allowing himself to be moved to the bounty hunter squad. It didn't have anything to do with Mr. Collins personally or directly… he didn't want to think about it.

"You were going to walk?" Kira asked incredulously.

"Kira," he said sharply, his patience beginning to wear thin. "I was shot in the arm—the bullet didn't even get lodged in my arm. I'm not being given a pain prescription. I am perfectly capable of walking."

"Whatever," she replied, sounding exactly like he did. He glared at her.

"Come on," Kendrix said. "He's injured. Be nice."

He hadn't expected her to defend him and was surprised when a warm feeling bubbled up inside him when she did. His first impression of Kendrix hadn't been positive or lasting—he had seen her as a slightly crazy woman who loved forensics more than people. Now that they had been living and working in such close quarters, he saw a quiet, but determined woman who cared passionately about her friends.

Kira opened her mouth to say something in reply, but stopped short as Cam elbowed her. She settled for a smirk. Cam had the best sense—out of everyone present—of when to open his mouth and when to shut-up.

At that moment, Mike entered the room. "Sorry," he apologized, trailing off at the obvious tension between his squad members. "New guardian was slow with the paperwork."

"It doesn't matter," Eric replied.

Mike looked like he wanted to say that it did matter, but thought better of it. Instead, he said, "You are so much like Leo."

"Your younger brother?"

Their commander looked dumbstruck for a moment. "Yeah." Then it clicked. "That's right—you've met him before."

"Yeah and I'm nothing like him."

"You'd be surprised," Mike muttered.

A nurse walked into the room and stopped short, looking baffled at the sheer number of people in the room. Now she decided to finally show up with that damned tetanus shot. He didn't mind needles as much as he did the residual pain from the particular shot she was giving him.

Soon enough, all of them were out in the lobby, trying to get him checked out and fill out all the necessary paperwork and insurance forms. Cam had filled out all of the insurance paperwork and shoved the clipboard at him.

"Sign it," he said.

Eric took the clipboard and pen. "Is Mr. Collins going to ask questions about you getting shot?" Kira asked.

"I doubt it," he snorted.

"Why?"

"Never mind."

She shrugged and went back to bothering Cam. They had become one happily dysfunctional family. 

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **That last part will be expounded upon in coming chapters... with that, part 2 is coming up next. (Intermission time- feel free to go to the lobby to get more refreshments.) With that, reviewer responses for those who reviewed chapter 4:

**BloomingViolets**: Tension between Eric and Kendrix? I think you're the first to pick up on that:) Thanks!

**cmar**: Ack! (Still trying to pin down Mr. Collins' character...) That was actually done for the future potential comic relief and it's not so much that he's stingy as the paperwork... At any rate, thanks! I hope the dynamics are working and are believable. :)

**Funky In Fishnet**: I'm glad you like Cam's characterization. He always struck me as the type to have something he hides from the public eye (a completely messy room). I also didn't want to make Eric completely the bad guy in regards to the roommate dynamics. Keep on reading:)

**Sreym**: Thanks:)

**The Pyran Menace**: I'm glad you like the story. I can't guarantee zero romance throughout the entire piece, but it will definitely be secondary to the other things that are going on. Kendrix is not going out on take-downs in the pink skirt and tank top. There's a time lapse between when she's wearing that and when she actually goes out, so it's implied that she's not wearing that anymore. Thanks for reading:)

**Weesta**: Thanks! I hope you keep reading... :)

**white time ranger**: I'm developing an affection for Time Force, although they didn't show some of the episodes I wanted to see on PRG. Oh well! Thanks for your kind words:)


	6. Across Time

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Two: On the Money  
Chapter Six: Across Time**

"So can we please not break any windows, blow up any cars or shoot anyone today?"

Eric glanced at Mike. Their commander was standing at one end of the island, giving the normal morning briefing. He would either hand out new cases or ask about continuing ones. Mike also had to sign all the operating reports they turned in, so he found out about all the 'accidentally' broken windows and gunshots.

All five of them were gathered around the island in the kitchen, trying to eat breakfast and look through the new files, before Cam commandeered all of them to put them on the mainframe computer.

"I don't know how those windows got broken," Kira replied.

Mike rolled his eyes. "So, have you two made any progress on Nowicki?"

He was talking about himself and Kira. Eric shook his head. "If she's still in Silver Hills, then I'm thinking she turned herself invisible."

"God," Mike muttered, sitting down and running a hand through his hair. "Collins will skin us alive if we don't get that one." He was right. Nowicki's bail bond was an outrageous six figure number—Collins would have a fit if he lost that much money. Of course, it wasn't like he couldn't afford to lose that much money every so often, he just preferred not to.

"We're going by the Silver Guardians' headquarters today," Eric informed him. "I want to see if Gabe can get anything on her that we haven't been able to." Gabe was head of IT at the headquarters and was a master hacker. He could find out how many times a day a person brushed their teeth in a matter of seconds.

"Take Kendrix. She's going to the board meeting."

That explained why Kendrix was dressed in a pink blouse with a black knee-length skirt. He had been wondering how she planned on doing take-downs in that outfit, but had kept his mouth shut since comments like that sparked gender wars around here. Kendrix had also curled her hair and looked… nice. Those old fat cats at the board meeting wouldn't pay any attention because their attention would be focused on her. Kira, on the other hand, looked like Ellie May Clampett in overalls that were too big for her and an old yellow t-shirt, her hair in pigtails. He didn't know which girl was going to be worse to drag around today, although he knew which one he would prefer to drag around…

"How's the communication system coming?" Mike was asking Cam.

The former Green Ranger looked up from where he had been almost single-mindedly shoveling Cheerios and bananas into his mouth. Cam was the type of person that one didn't talk to in the morning until he had his first cup of coffee, which was fine, because Eric wasn't sure what he would have done if he had a roommate who was overly cheerful in the morning. It was bad enough that he had to constantly throw Cam's scattered stuff back to his side of the room. It was almost like a personification of 'eccentric genius.' Oh well, he and Cam got along a lot better than most people thought they would.

"I'm working on ear pieces," Cam said after swallowing the mouthful of cereal. "I'm fine-tuning the frequency and range."

"No more walkie-talkies?" Kira asked.

"_You_ can use them if you want," Mike replied.

"Yes!" She punched the air with her fist. Those walkie-talkies were some of the most horrendous things ever manufactured. It was also obvious that Mike had sent Kira to the store to get them, because she came back with purple ones. The range on them sucked, but they were all right when a team of them were working on the same take-down.

Eric went back to his English muffin. If he was the commander of this squad, he would just close his eyes to broken windows. And as for the car that they blew up, it hadn't been their fault. Someone had rigged a bomb to it. They were just lucky that no one had been in that car and nothing valuable had been in it either. Fortunately, it was a company car. Unfortunately, Collins didn't view the car being blown up in such a positive light. He hadn't replaced the car and wasn't going to. Of course, it wasn't that big a deal between their personal cars and the van, they had more than enough vehicles. As for someone getting shot, that's just what happens when the skips don't come peacefully. There had been a noticeable lack of fuss on Collins' part when Eric got shot…

Cam stood up from the island, put his dishes in the dishwasher and wandered into the lab, probably to continue work on the ear pieces. Collins, since he was already being over generous with their salaries and benefits, was being oddly stingy with the supply requests he actually honored from them. And after the car blew up, Eric didn't think that would get much better. Oh well, there were ways of going around Collins and no one would implicate him in any of it, especially since Wes was going on a guilt trip about their falling out…

"Eric?"

"What?" he snapped in reply to Kira's address.

"Should we get going?"

"Yeah," he replied, finishing his food. He glanced at Mike. "What are you doing today?" he questioned.

"Interrogating some people."

Sounded like fun. He was braving the Silver Guardians' headquarters and since the board meetings normally lasted until noon, so all the fat cats could go out to lunch afterwards, he and Kira could either hang around and wait for Kendrix or go snooping around for Nowicki and then come back. The latter was probably their best bet.

He rolled his eyes and put his dishes away. "Let's go," he said to the two girls.

"Whose car?" Kira asked as they went out into the garage. She had a large purse that held most of the equipment she needed. Kendrix was holding a dossier that Mike had dredged up somewhere and her purse was not bulging, meaning it was absent of the junk she took on take-downs.

"Mine," he replied. Kendrix didn't normally drive, although it was easy on the nerves to have her behind the wheel of the car. Kira drove like a bat out of hell. Eric was amazed she didn't have any tickets or wrecks under her belt yet.

His car also got better gas mileage, he reflected as the girls climbed into his car—a tiny Ford Aspire. He had recently traded in the old junk bucket for this new junk bucket. Kendrix was looking highly anxious, while Kira looked like she was up to no good.

"Can I-"

"No," he cut off the question. "You may not touch the radio."

Kira grinned. That argument was one she picked just for fun now. Considering her previous pop diva status, Ford was exceptionally level-headed and intelligent.

* * *

The Silver Guardians' headquarters was buzzing with life when they arrived. Kira glanced around at the guardians going through their normal routine, the secretary taking calls and directing people and the general bedlam that defined the place. The clock on the wall said that Kendrix had ten minutes before the board meeting started.

"I better go," the Pink Galaxy Ranger said, her voice shaking. She still did have to get to the Bio-Lab building next door.

"Give us a call when the meeting's over," Eric replied. Kira tried not to smirk as he took Kendrix's hand and gently squeezed it. "Good luck," he whispered. Kendrix smiled at him and hurried out to sight towards the conference room.

"You so like Kendrix," Kira said in a joshing tone once Kendrix was out of earshot.

"Don't go there," Eric growled.

Now was probably a good time to change the subject. "So what are we doing here? Besides bothering the IT guy, I mean."

Eric gave her a sidelong glance, his almond-shaped eyes narrowed. He motioned for her to follow him down the empty hall that led to the IT department. "We're going to engage in random acts of deviance."

"Meaning what?" Since it was Eric, Kira didn't read into the sexual undertones that could have had if someone along the lines of Conner had said it. Myers was up to something.

"Mr. Collins denied our request for the laser guns."

"Yeah… and?"

"So, we can't get them the traditional way. In light of that, we're just going to have the get them the old-fashioned way. We steal them."

"Steal them?"

"Yeah, steal them."

Kira didn't know if she should laugh or frown. "What if someone realizes it?"

"No one will realize it. The inventory sheet for that stuff, including the extra ammo, is a piece of crap. People forget to sign out the things they take. At the end of every month, the inventory never matches up with what's in the closet, so someone doctors it." He paused, a grim smile on his face. "And if someone does realize something, it will probably be Wes and since the first person he'll suspect will be me, he'll keep his mouth shut and just doctor the sheet."

"Can I be your case buddy more often?" she asked in a flippant manner. If Eric hadn't joined the police force, he would have made a great crook.

"No." His voice gave no room for argument. "Now go down and talk to Gabe. I'll get what we really came here for."

Kira nodded and headed down towards the end of the hall that was where someone had sandwiched in the IT guys. She had no idea why it didn't bother her that Eric would even consider getting weapons, no matter how illicitly, from the guardians. Perhaps it was in light of the lecture they received about the blown up car. Collins had gone on and on about how they needed to treat company property with respect. Of course, no one had a chance to tell him that one of their skips had planted the bomb. There had been a distinct note of revenge in Eric's voice as he told her what he was doing. The question was revenge against who? Collins or Wes?

The IT office was cramped and crowded as she peered in the door. Gabe looked up as she stared at the chaos, not knowing how they managed this.

"Hey!" he said in a friendly tone. "What can I do for the neighbor bounty hunter?"

She grinned. "I need some information on Theresa Nowicki."

"What kind of information?"

"Where she might be hiding out."

"No problem, boss." Gabe and the geek squad were off, fingers flying over their keyboards as they searched for any information that might help them find the skip. In a few moments, he had something. "She went on vacation to the beach. Might check down south in the little beach towns—Mariner Bay, Blue Bay Harbor, Reefside. She also likes to gamble, so a road trip to Vegas might not hurt."

She nodded. "Thanks guys. What kind of donuts do you want?"

Gabe waved her out of the room. "You know what kind of donuts we want. Just bring 'em here on Friday morning." The price for using the geek squad's resources was food—sometimes it was donuts and other times it was a pizza. Lately, they had been on a donut tear and were conning donuts out of everyone.

She thanked Gabe and wandered back towards the lobby. It was obvious that Cam could complete the kind of search that the geek squad did, but Cam was working with less computer power and tended to put all his energy into fixing and upgrading their equipment. In the grand scheme of things, it was faster to bug the geek squad than it was to bug Cam. Plus, Eric and Cam had become odd allies about some things and it was safer not to incur anyone's wrath, not knowing if a chain reaction would happen.

Eric was waiting for her in the lobby, looking nonplussed. It also didn't look like he had taken anything from the fact that his pockets and his jacket were not bulging or plagued with mysterious lumps. He stood up.

"Anything come up?"

"She likes the beach and gambling."

"Ah, road trip."

They left the lobby and went out into the parking lot where Eric's car was. He opened the back and pulled the laser guns out of his pockets, setting them next to a milk crate. No wonder no one had noticed anything—the guns were so small that Eric could have probably smuggled a lot more of them out.

"Are we going to return these?"

"Eventually," Eric replied.

"What happens if Mr. Collins finds out?"

"Nothing. Someone could have sold them to us on the black market."

He loaded one and handed it to her. "Point and shoot," he replied. "The entire cartridge comes out and is replaced. Six shots."

"Like a revolver?"

"Almost exactly like a revolver." He paused. "Just remember to compensate for gravity."

Kira nodded, as Eric put the other weapons in the milk crate and covered the milk crate with an old towel that was in the back. She glanced at her watch. "We've got a while before Kendrix is supposed to be done."

"Not enough time to hit Vegas or the beach."

"So what should we do in the mean time?"

"Eric!" someone called.

The pair turned. A young man with green hair was running through the parking lot towards them. He must have been a Time Force Ranger from the future, judging by the white uniform he was wearing.

"Oh shit," Eric muttered.

* * *

Kendrix tried to look interested in what was going on, but the truth was she was bored to tears. She had given her report first, since she was the newest addition to Bio-Lab. The subsequent reports had nothing to do with her and she was quickly falling asleep. What did stock options have to do with the bounty hunters?

Mr. Collins thanked the guy that had been droning on. Then he introduced another guy here to talk about finances… Her elbow slipped off the table and she started with the abrupt movement. God, she hoped no one saw that.

The guy across the table from her, Wes Collins, the commander of the Silver Guardians, gave her a sympathetic smile and went back to pretending that he cared about the stock options available through Bio-Lab. He had really pretty eyes, almost blue-green. One second they looked blue and the next they looked aquamarine. Maybe he was like a human mood ring—that would be really cool, someone whose eyes changed color with their mood. Eric did the same thing to a certain degree. His eyes tended to shift from black to dark brown, depending on what kind of mood he was in. Wes looked nice—like he was used to being the ladies' man. Eric, on the other hand, had none of that quality. His features were stronger and he was the type of person who didn't date girls just because they were pretty. He was looking for something else…

What was she doing? Eric had held her hand once! That wasn't a marriage proposal!

Shaking her head, she started drawing flowers in the margins of her meeting agenda. The others here would probably think she was taking notes. Like she needed to be taking notes about all this financial stuff? The flowers morphed into birds and then she finished off the collage with a few hearts.

"Thank you, everyone."

Kendrix snapped to attention as Collins dismissed the meeting. He stayed in the room talking to a Dr. Zaskin and another business type person. She shoved all the papers back in the dossier, picked up her purse and filed out of the room with the others. The group dispersed once they were out in the hall. Kendrix paused at the top of the stairs, searching her purse for her cell phone to tell Eric and Kira to pick her up.

"Hey!" She looked up from the cell phone search that was becoming chronic to see Wes hurrying towards her. "Kendrix, right?" he asked.

She nodded in reply. "Yeah."

"You're one of the bounty hunters?"

"I am." She had also been with Bio-Lab for four years before that as a forensic scientist, but Wes wouldn't have noticed her. Eric had been the one to check up on the meticulous work that his former partner had neglected.

"Do you want to go grab some lunch?"

Kendrix gaped at him. "Excuse me?"

He laughed. "It's just lunch. Nothing binding."

She had not been asked out on a date since before she joined the GSA, before college… never been kissed… maybe this would be good. As quickly as she made the resolution to accept, she thought of Eric. How could she go out to lunch with someone when she had allowed herself to fall head over heels for Eric? It would be like… betraying him. She had done the same thing with Leo, but realized, after she was reunited with them, that it had been nothing more than a silly fantasy. Besides… there was something about Eric that drew her to him…

"I can't," she said in a tone she hoped sounded sincere. "We've got a lot of work to do. Mr. Collins has been on use about finding a couple of the skips with six figure bail bonds."

Wes smiled and nodded. "Some other time?"

"Yeah," she replied, watching him as he walked away.

His expression had been unreadable, but she didn't have time to dwell on it as her cell phone began to ring incessantly. This was one of the times she wished she could just dump her purse out on the nearest surface and find the sucker. Damn whoever decided to start making little tiny cell phones.

She got to the phone just in time. "Hello?"

"Kendrix!" It was Eric. "Meeting out?"

"Would I be answering my phone if it wasn't?"

"Good. Meet us out in the parking lot. Now!" The call disconnected. "Someone's in a good mood today," she muttered sarcastically as she hurried down the steps and through the hall that opened up into the Silver Guardians' lobby.

Eric and Kira were standing out in the parking lot with a couple people dressed in odd white uniforms. Kendrix frowned as she pushed open the glass doors and made a beeline for them. Did these people have some information on a skip or something? They didn't look like people with the Silver Guardians or Bio-Lab, nor did they look like personal acquaintances of Eric's. Not that she knew who any of his personal friends were… or even if he had any.

"What's going on?" she asked them as she approached.

Eric did not look happy. "Weird crap," he muttered. "This is Kendrix," he told the four people. He motioned to each of them as he said his or her name. "Jen, Katie, Trip and Lucas."

Jen was the shorter one with reddish-brown hair. She was dressed like Xena, Warrior Princess gone commando. Katie had chocolate-colored skin and wavy hair. She, at least, looked normal. Trip was the short man with green hair and a green jewel in the center of his forehead. Lucas was tall and has Asian features. He was another one that looked like he was a ladies' man and was well aware of it.

"They're the Time Force Rangers," Eric clarified. "We need to go back to the townhouse and talk," he added, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Why?" Kendrix asked, feeling confused.

He shrugged. "Cam is already there and Mike is going to meet us there." He turned towards the driver's side door of his car. "Let's go."

The Time Force Rangers didn't have any discernable method for getting around. "Eric, I don't think seven people will fit in your car."

"It's okay," Trip said quickly. "We'll meet you guys there!" He, at least, was being cheerful and perky—something seriously lacking around Eric.

The Time Force Rangers disappeared. Kendrix slipped into the passenger seat and looked at Eric. For all intents and purposes, he looked annoyed. Only the fact that his knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel gave away what he was really feeling. Kira was silent in the backseat, looking a little shocked.

Kendrix just wanted to know what was going on.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Minor changes to chapter 5, thanks to Hagar for giving me some pertinent gun info. (Or, as they say in _ Muppet Treasure Island_, 'boom-boom sticks.') Thanks to everyone who has reviewed; your input and comments are greatly appreciated. I'm thinking about starting to post another story I have going right now as well, but we shall see. Cheers! 


	7. Thunder Power

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Two: On the Money  
Chapter Seven: Thunder Power**

The four Time Force Rangers were looking around the lab with great interest. Cam frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, wanting to know what this was all about. Eric, Kira and Kendrix had arrived dragging the four rangers from the future. The explanation had been that they wanted all five of them present. What could rangers from the future possibly need to tell the five of them? None of them had anything to do with Time Force… not anymore at any rate…

"What is going on?"

Kendrix's loud question got the attention of everyone crowded in a room not meant to hold so many people. Cam glanced to the guy with green hair, trying to keep him from doing something to the computer that was irreversible. It had taken him too long to set up the computer to have someone—even a person from the future—change something.

Jen, the leader of that bunch, stood up. Cam tried to refrain from raising an eyebrow. Something about her gave him a bad vibe. Maybe it was just because she had a domineering attitude that reminded him of Eric and there didn't need to be two of him running around.

"The five of you need a find a uniform power source."

Stunned silence met that pronouncement. If they had been anything other than a group of former rangers, then no one would have had a clue what she was talking about. The five of them needed to get a uniform power source, as in, all of them became one kind of ranger rather than the scattered types they were. That didn't make sense.

"How?" Eric replied, his tone cool.

"You five are rangers," Jen said.

"We used to be rangers," Mike corrected. "Three of us no longer have our power source. The power is gone."

"But you need to be rangers again."

"Why?" Cam spoke up. "Our job doesn't require us to be rangers."

"It's not about your job," Jen snapped.

"We're tracing a mutant fugitive in this time," Trip explained. "We can't normally do something to alter the time line, but if the five of you don't find a uniform power source, then the time line will alter drastically from the original."

"Why us?" Kira asked. "Why not another team of former rangers who are still together?"

Trip stood up. "The odds of five former rangers being brought together for a random team are astronomical." His voice was fast and excited as he gesticulated wildly. "Fate had a hand in bringing you five together!"

"Fate?" Eric snorted.

"Yes, fate!" Jen retorted at him.

"But I don't see how we can get a uniform power source." Kendrix looked almost distressed. It didn't go unnoticed that Eric had moved closer to her.

The room fell silent. Cam thought back to the library at the Wind Ninja Academy. He had read and catalogued most of them. He had seen the scroll of destiny and the scroll of time and had read all the legends. There had to be something. Hunter had asked him to help reorganize the library at the Thunder Ninja Academy. A scroll there had been about the thunder ninja ranger powers…

"There might be a way," Cam said softly. Everyone in the room was staring at him, giving him their undivided attention. "The wind morphers were purely man-made, tapping into the ninja powers to enhance them. But the thunder morphers… those were tapping into a power source that was vast. No one quite knows the extent of the thunder powers."

"What are you saying?" Mike questioned.

"I'm saying that one of the scrolls talks about the source of the thunder powers being in the Mountain of Lost Ninjas. If we could find it, then we'd all have a uniform power source."

"That can't be it," Kira said.

"No. It's not it. The quest to get the powers is dangerous. The ninjas designed it to be reminiscent of the quest for the Holy Grail. No one has ever survived trying to get to the power source."

"Then how did Blake and Hunter get their powers?"

"Sensei Omino built those morphers like the wind morphers, but instead of tapping into the ninja's powers, it tapped into that thunder power source."

The room was silent after that. Cam knew that the others were thinking the same thing that he was—did they have another choice? Was there something else they could try, some other source that could be tapped? The answer was no… anything else would take more time and more obstacles in the form of government agencies and ancient prophecies.

"Today was better when I thought I was going to live to see Monday," Eric said under his breath.

"We don't have a choice," Mike replied. He turned to Cam. "You know where all of these things will be?"

He nodded. "We'd have to camp near the mountain, since there's nothing around for miles and a commute would consume time. I'm not sure how long it would take us to find and get the actual power source."

"Assuming we don't die."

Eric had a point. Cam had heard horror stories about the Mountain of Lost Ninjas. It might take them a long time to get to the actual mountain, especially if they had to face the ghosts of the dead ninjas that the other ninja rangers had. This was not looking good, but from the grim expressions on the Time Force Rangers' faces, he knew that the situation had to be desperate for them to come to the past and tell them what to do.

"Let's start packing," Mike said. "The skips we have right now can wait until Monday."

"We'll monitor for the mutants here," Trip added, ever the cheerful one. "We'll keep the situation under control until you get back."

"And we need to contact Wes," Jen added.

"He's at the Silver Guardians' headquarters," Eric said blandly.

Sensing an argument about the break loose, Cam watched as Kira and Kendrix stepped out of the lab. Mike grabbed Eric's arm and dragged him out of the room, while Cam followed him, wondering if they had camping gear.

"What is your problem?" Mike hissed at Eric. "I thought they were on your team!"

Eric shook his head and glared. "Hey! I was being nice!"

Mike sighed. Cam moved around Eric and headed up the stairs. "Does anyone happen to have a tent on them?" he called.

"You've got to be kidding me," Eric muttered from behind him.

* * *

Eric yanked open one of his dresser drawers and grabbed a couple of t-shirts at random. He slammed the drawer shut again and went to his bed, where his duffel bag was open. Shoving the shirts in the bag, he took a quick inventory of the contents. He should have enough clothing for the few days that Cam had made it sound like they were going to be out there, including extra clothes in case of disease or disaster.

He sat on his bed next to the duffel bag and pulled a flat box from underneath the bed. It had various and sundry odds and ends that he had thought might be useful in the grand scheme of things. A three-cell MagLite was in there—that, at least, would be useful. He took the well-used flashlight and shoved it in the duffel bag.

Cam was moving around the room, rummaging through the various piles of clothing that he had strategically all over the place. Most of his clean clothes were in his laundry basket and the dirty clothes were in a pile next to his bed.

"What are you looking for?" Eric asked idly.

"My Notre Dame shirt," he replied.

"It's in your dresser."

The former Green Ranger moved over to his dresser—both dressers were in the closet—and came back with the formerly missing shirt in hand. He didn't bother to ask how Eric knew where his shirt was. If there was one thing about Cam, it was that he knew where everything was except for his clothes, which tended to explain some of the hideous Hawaiian shirts that he wore when he couldn't find anything else.

There was a marked difference between the areas of their room. Cam's bed had been made by pulling the comforter over the tangled sheets, blankets and pillows. Stacks of papers, books and software cluttered his desk and spilled into more stacks on the floor, not to mention the computer and the laptop on the desk. More of the same was all over his nightstand, although the books looked more like pleasure reading than the complicated computer manuals all over the rest of the place. Notably, he had the _Harry Potter_ books on the nightstand. Then there were the clothes that were all over the place.

Eric's stuff was completely the opposite. His bed was neatly made and all of his stuff was either stored under the bed or in the desk drawers. He had a handful of books that were lined up on his desk. Besides the books, he had a laptop on his desk, which he hardly used. He didn't have any of the computer accessories that Cam had. All of their movies were on the nightstand turned TV stand. That tended to stay neat, because neither of them had time to watch movies.

Cam put the shirt in his backpack. He then picked up the laundry basket of clean clothes and went to his dresser, starting the task of putting them away.

"I don't see how you can have three degrees and be such a mess," Eric muttered.

His roommate shrugged. "The bachelor's degrees are because I was a double major. And I graduated from high school when I was sixteen."

Meaning he had been twenty when he graduated from college. Eric found that absolutely incredulous. He had dropped out of prep school and gotten his G.E.D.—and barely managed to do that much. Then he had gone into the Marines and it didn't seem to matter. He could have gone to college, funded by the military, but found nothing that interested him. Besides, the Silver Guardians had hired him for his military experience and not his education.

"How old are you, anyways?"

Cam finished putting his clothes in the dresser and started picking up his dirty laundry from all around the room. "Twenty-seven," he replied.

All right, so he was older than he had originally thought. It also meant that he and Cam were closer in age than he had thought. "We're going to have to have an over-the-hill party for you soon."

Cam smirked. "I bet you've already had one."

Eric thought for a minute. "I didn't have a party for my thirtieth birthday."

"Too bad." He paused. "When is your birthday, anyways?"

"That is classified information."

His roommate shrugged and looked around for more of his dirty laundry. Finding none, he started going through his backpack, making sure he had everything. No one knew when his birthday was or was going to find out, unless they stole his driver's license. That was information that Wes had tried to get out of him—and failed. It had contributed to their eventual falling out.

Things had been great for a while. The four Time Force Rangers from the future had gone back to the year 3000. He and Wes had managed to peacefully co-exist as partners. They had almost been friends. Then they inadvertently stumbled across the team of rangers that came after them—the Wild Force Rangers. That had led to a brief team reunion and that ill-fated relationship with Taylor. Nothing but sex—and arguments tended to spawn the best sex of the relationship. It wasn't healthy and he broke it off before one or both of them got hurt.

Not long after, he had Wes had their falling out. Clinically depressed and drinking just a little too much, Wes had become almost unbearable to work with. Eric knew that he was depressed over Jen leaving a second time, but it didn't excuse his inattention to his work. There was a reason he knew Kendrix, while Wes didn't. Wes had started ignoring the meticulous forensic details that were integral to their cases. He couldn't focus. Mr. Collins saw the problem as well and might have moved Eric to prevent another knock-down, screaming battle. Eric didn't know. All he knew was that Jen was back and pouring salt into open wounds.

"I have ways of finding out."

He snapped back to attention. Cam was half-lying on his bed, his foot in the air as he tied his shoe. For all the calm and poise that Cam exuded in public, he was a raving lunatic in his private life. Of course, Cam knew his true reasons for leaving the guardians, while he knew things about Cam that the others could never guess at.

"How?"

"You have an e-mail account, correct?"

Cam rolled over and started shuffling around under his bed for his other shoe. "Yeah," he replied warily. "But I haven't checked it in so long that they probably shut it down."

"I can hack into it and find out."

"Goddammit, Cam," he muttered. "Just leave it alone."

"You don't like birthdays?" Cam's head reappeared and he was holding his missing shoe.

"Not anymore."

"Come on! You don't have to tell us how old you are. You just need to tell us when your birthday is, so we can have a party."

"I don't want a party."

Cam shrugged. "Suit yourself." He paused. "We need to start loading the car before too much longer." He paused again. "Mike should be back soon."

Eric let out a long breath and picked up his bag. Mike had gone to Academy to get the rest of the camping gear they needed. This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

"Are you sure this is entirely necessary, Cam?" Kira asked as she hauled a box of paper goods out of the back of the SUV. "I mean we passed a hotel on the way up here and I'm sure it would take any time at all to commute."

Kendrix inwardly seconded the sentiment. This entire camping trip seemed like overkill. The mountain that Cam had told them about wasn't that far out of the way. It would take some time to hike to it, but still leaving plenty of time to look around.

"I don't mind riding in the car," Kira continued. "I had to ride around in all kinds of cars when I was on tour."

"Your opinion has been noted," Cam replied, his tone waspish. He looked and sounded extremely tired.

"Quit whining and make the best of it," Eric added as he swung the cooler out of the car and down next to the growing pile of gear.

"You can talk," Kira retorted.

"Go set up a tent or something," the Quantum Ranger countered hotly.

Tempers were flaring and people's patience was wearing thin. Kendrix let out a long breath and went to assist Kira with the tents. There was one larger tent for the males and a smaller tent for her and Kira. She located the tarps in one of the boxes, while Kira started to unfold the tents. No one was speaking, mostly because it would start a fight and that was the last thing they needed.

She laid the tarp down and took one end of the pole that Kira had just finished putting together. Putting the poles through the nylon was the easy part. The hard part was getting the things to snap into place and make a tent rather than a deflated parachute. Soon enough, they had something resembling a tent.

"Here."

Kendrix started as someone touched her shoulder. She turned to see Eric handing her a small mallet and the stakes that came with the tent. They did need to nail the tent down so that it didn't go flying away during the day. She smiled, took the tools from him and began to hammer them into the ground.

The other, smaller tent went up much faster.

The two females stepped back to admire their handy work. Kendrix glanced at the guys. Mike was going through the boxes and organizing them. Eric was in silent mode, working on getting wood for a fire. Cam looked ready to fall asleep on the spot. It made her wonder what was making him so lethargic.

"You know," Kendrix muttered. "When I heard 'camp', I thought of Girl Scout camp with the nice platform tents and cots."

"You were a Girl Scout?" Kira asked.

She nodded. Eric stood up and came over to the pair of them. "You know how to build an A-frame fire?" he asked her. Kendrix nodded. "Good. Go find lots of tinder." In other words, he wanted her to find tiny twigs that would burn quickly, helping ignite the other, larger pieces of wood. He was just lucky she had gone troop camping so often.

"Were you a Boy Scout?" Kendrix called after him.

He turned and gave her an appraising look. "You're looking at an Eagle Scout, cupcake," he replied.

Cupcake… at least he wasn't calling her 'babe' anymore. Kendrix turned away from him and headed towards the edge of the trees, where she was likely to find the wood that she needed to. They weren't going to be able to get much searching done tonight. It was just as well. Everyone was tired and cranky and, if this mission was as dangerous as Cam said it was, then they might all end up dead if something was attempted tonight.

"Kendrix! Wait up!"

She turned back to see Mike jogging to catch up with her. She stayed still for a moment as he fell into step with her as they went into the trees.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

Kendrix shrugged. "I'm fine. We need really small, thin pieces of wood."

"How was the board meeting?"

"Boring. Stock options don't really matter to us."

Mike laughed. "No. We're not the stockholders." He paused and gave her a sidelong glance. Kendrix chose to ignore him and rifled through some fallen branches, to see if the wood was dead and dry enough.

"What?"

"I think Eric likes you."

"I think you need your head examined."

Mike just held up his hands in surrender. Kendrix glared at him and began breaking pieces off the branch. Some of the smaller branches over here would be perfect… Eric liked her. That was one of the most ridiculous things she had heard yet.

She picked up a branch and decided it was dry enough. She had had precisely one date in her entire life and it had been with Leo to the local ice cream stand on Terra Venture, if that could be considered a date. No one wondered why she had wanted to keep up with the acting after she doubled for Carolyn Pickets? When she had been in that movie, she had experienced something she never had before—people appreciating the way she looked. Sure, she got good grades and people acknowledged that she was smart, but no one had ever acknowledged that she was pretty.

Mike wandered away from her to look for some more branches. Kendrix glanced over to where Eric was working on constructing the basic frame for the fire with the wood that they had brought with them. He carefully arranged the pieces, his dark eyes never leaving his work or straying to someone else. He glanced up and their gazes met. His eyes were soft and looking like melted chocolate again… the ghost of a smile grazed his lips.

"Have you found any wood yet?" he called.

"I'm working on it!" she retorted back.

There were times she wondered why Mr. Collins hadn't made Eric their commander. He was certainly qualified and tended to handle things like he was the commander. Mike would have had a better transition back to a squad member. There was more going on there… and she had no idea what it was. Something must have happened between Eric and Mr. Collins in order for it to seem like a falling out.

She dragged a couple of branches over to Eric, breaking off large pieces to form a rough bird's nest of sticks. Kira came by and dropped an armful of kindling near them. Eric set the nest in the center of the frame and used a kitchen match to get it going.

Her smile met his.

Maybe there was something there…

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Minor spelling corrections to the last chapter - can we tell I don't pay attention to certain things? Although, I will say: I am confused about the laser guns as presented on Power Rangers. The Silver Guardians' laser guns operate the way Eric described to Kira in the last chapter and the SPD blasters also seem to do the same, seeing as Jack talked about reloading his in _Idol_. So, I am in research mode and will endeavor to get a coherent view of those suckers. In the mean time, thanks for reading, reviewing, commenting etc. I'm still waffling about posting the other story... Keep up the great feedback y'all! 


	8. Darker Colors

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Two: On the Money  
Chapter Eight: Darker Colors**

It all came back to elements, Cam reasoned to himself that night. Crickets sang and the moon was bright. A cool breeze made it comfortable in their tent. Mike and Eric were both dead asleep and breathing evenly. Of course, Eric tended to sleep through just about anything as Cam had learned in their current stint at roommates. Then again, Eric also had no problems throwing all his junk on his bed when it started to get annoying.

Elements… Not all of them could be classified as thunder, since thunder ninjas were already fewer and far between than wind ninjas. Cam, himself, was the only samurai present, though he had been trained as a wind ninja. It begged the question of which wind element each of the others were, since Cam couldn't sense the thunder spirit in any of them. Even Blake and Hunter were not true thunder ninjas. They might have been trained as thunder ninjas, but their spirits sang to the wind ninja way—Air and Water to be exact.

No, they didn't have to be true thunder ninjas to get the thunder powers. But it would help if they were identified with their elements, since they all were wind ninjas. Or more, their spirits sang to the wind ninja way.

He glanced at Eric. His roommate was Earth. He was almost sure of it. Eric used the lower ground in a battle, keeping close to the earth. Earth elements tended to use the lower ground to their advantage, taking their opponents feet out from underneath them. When the opponent had no sense of balance, then the fight was over quickly. Ninjas who were classified as Earth tended to be practical people, ones who followed the rules and provided stability for the ninjas of other elements. There exceptions to the personality traits, Dustin being a keen one, but that was true for most Earth wind ninjas. If he got his father to let them enroll part-time as students, he couldn't imagine that Eric would be thrilled about the yellow uniform he would have to wear.

Kira was almost certainly Water. She flowed from move to move when she was fighting, in a graceful, fluid style. When running, she almost seemed to be floating along rather than moving her limbs. Her body moved in perfect sync with its movements. That was a strong trait of Water. She would keep moving in a battle and tire her opponent. Water also tended to be fast, flowing like water, which Kira was. Water personalities tended to go with the flow, not letting much bother them. Routine and dependability were not requirements for Water ninjas. Kira adapted to whatever situation she was in, sometimes in just a few seconds. It made sense to him that she would wear the blue Water uniform at the academy.

Mike and Kendrix were more difficult to pin down. His sense of Mike was that their commander would gravitate towards Air. Air ninjas tended to use the higher ground to their advantage, the opposite of Earth. Air preferred high roundhouse kicks and attacks angled from above. A properly trained Air ninja could disappear into the trees and land surprise attacks on the opponent. Air ninjas tended to be leaders. Mike was a good leader and knew how to balance all of the explosive personalities on the team. He tempered their arguments and discussions with logic and was willing to listen to all sides of a dispute—all traits of a good leader.

Kendrix… he honestly had no idea where to place Kendrix. She had traits of Earth, Air and Water, along with personality traits of each. If Cam didn't know better, he might have said she was Fire. The Fire ninjas were extraordinarily rare. They were so rare that one had not been seen in the past one thousand years. Fire ninjas fought in short bursts of energy, usually with deadly accuracy, fitting the deadliness of their element. A fight with a Fire ninja was over quickly with the Fire ninja as the victor. Fire personalities were almost defined by the element. Bursts of anger and temper were paired with long periods of calm and control, as a fire could be. Fire ninjas had claimed purple as their color, the same as the hottest and most dangerous flames. There hadn't been a Fire ninja at the Wind Ninja Academy in its entire history—and Cam was wary of placing Kendrix in that category without more thought.

If he was right and Kendrix was fire, then the five of them balanced out each other. The samurais had claimed their element as ether, the substance of the heavens. They would have all five of the elements represented in their group. Groups of Power Rangers tended to be either five or six—five rangers tended to represent the elements and complete balance with the earth. Six rangers formed two triangles, the strongest shape for fighting—and each trio in a triangle would be identified as the heart, mind and body of that group.

But right now, they were the elements.

Cam smiled to himself and snuggled down into his sleeping bag. They had Earth to ground them and keep them attuned to reality. They had Air to realize their dreams and fantasies. They had Water to keep them sane and willing to adapt. They had Fire for deadly force and the wisdom found in the flames. And they had ether, the ethereal knowledge that nothing in life is hopeless and a promise of something better.

The thunder powers would realize that if they conquered the challenges and would assign the colors and powers accordingly.

There had been legends spoken of the five thunder colors…

Crimson, Navy Blue, Forest Green, Goldenrod and Mauve…

* * *

"This is kind of nice," Kira commented as they walked along through the trees that surrounded the mountain. "If someone planted some flowers, it might even be homey."

"Always the optimist," Eric growled from behind her.

Mike fought the urge to roll his eyes as they followed Cam through a rough path in the woods. It was obvious that no one came here often… and the atmosphere was enough to frighten off people if the connotations didn't.

"Where are we going?" Kendrix asked from the end of the line.

"That way," Cam replied, pointing towards the looming mountain.

"Sorry I asked," Kendrix muttered.

A sharp breeze blew, causing a few of them to look around in fear. Cam kept plodding forward, ignoring the concern behind him. Kira ran a few steps to catch up to Cam. "What was that?" she asked.

"Probably the spirits of the dead ninjas coming to eat us."

"Cam!" she yelled, smacking his arm. "Tell us what is going on here, because I don't think a ghost is going to eat us."

"I don't know," Eric muttered. "Ever seen _Resident Evil_?"

"You say out of this," Kira snapped at him.

Mike heard a 'thud' from behind him. He turned to see that Kendrix had tripped over a root, sticking out of the ground. She was scowling as she pushed herself back to her feet, dusting the dirt off her jeans. Her glasses were sliding down her nose as sweat beaded on her forehead. She took her glasses off in an attempt to wipe off her face and make them stay on. It was a fruitless gesture. This was the girl who refused to get contact lenses…

Eric stayed behind with her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Kendrix replied. "I just wish I knew what we're looking for."

'Don't we all,' Mike thought. Cam didn't even seem to have a coherent idea of what they were looking for and he was the one that dragged them all out here. "We've been walking for hours!" Kira said in a tone that was more warning then whining. "Let's at least stop for a few minutes."

Apparently, Cam agreed with that, because he came to a stop. Kira threw her backpack down and flopped ungracefully to the ground. Cam followed suit, but sat on top of his backpack instead of doing a dramatic flop. Kendrix lowered herself to a fallen tree trunk, where she rubbed her elbow. Eric sat on the ground next to her, absently rubbing the angry red spot on her leg.

"Why are you so sure we can get this power?" Kira asked Cam.

"Because, we represent the elements," he replied as if it were obvious.

"There's only four elements," Kendrix reminded him.

She was right—earth, air, water and fire. There were five of them, meaning, unless someone was doubled up, they couldn't represent the elements.

"The ancient Greeks sometimes talked about a fifth element," Cam said. "Ether, the substance of the heavens. They figured stars had to be made of something else."

All right, so with the ether, they had the five elements. Mike didn't even want to try to identify who was what element. Cam probably knew, because he was used to assigning people elements. Mike would probably have it all wrong, since he didn't know what to look for.

"Who's what element?" Kira asked.

Cam shook his head. "I have an idea, but that's it."

"Care to share?"

"No."

A low growl emitted from somewhere. "Breakfast wasn't that long ago, people," Kira muttered as she dug through her backpack for some water.

"I don't think that was us," Eric said, standing up.

Kendrix was staring at him, following his gaze. "What is it?"

"That!" Eric cried, pulling Kendrix out of the way as something came flying through the air right at her.

The thing turned out to be something that looked like it had been human about a thousand years ago. It was dressed in ragged clothes and its face was white and distorted into something Mike had only ever seen on Halloween. More of the things began to pour out of the trees and surround them in a rough circle.

"What are these things, Cam?" Kira asked.

"Spirits of the dead ninjas," Cam replied.

"I take back what I said about ghosts not eating people."

One of the ghosts moved forward, aiming for Eric's head. He ducked it and threw the thing bodily away from him. That seemed to be the chain reaction that started the other ghosts moving forward, so that a full-fledged battle broke out.

"Cam, if we get out of this alive, I will kill you!" Kira yelled.

* * *

Kira watched as the last of the ghost-things dissolved into a cloud of dust that promptly disappeared. The woods were as they had been when they found them. She picked up her backpack, dusting it off and putting it back on her shoulders.

"That was just plain weird," Kendrix commented.

"We must be getting close," Cam muttered.

"If getting close means getting annihilated by ghosts, then count me out."

Eric grabbed her backpack and dragged her along as Cam began to walk again. There was a small creek running to the mouth of a cave. "That's the cavern," Cam muttered. "We're looking for the thunder temple around the other side."

Kira twisted out of Eric's grip and scowled as she followed Cam through the thin trees around the mountain. This was getting to be ridiculous. They were listening to a bunch of people from the year 3000. Now, she didn't doubt that they were from the year 3000—Doctor Oliver's archives had been pretty extensive, but she did doubt that this had to be done in order to save the timeline. They hadn't seen a mutant running around their year. Then again, the odds that five former rangers got put on the team together were pretty astronomical. She thought back to her pledge to kill Cam if they got out of this alive. That was a promise she wanted to keep. He was a genius. Couldn't he build them morphers?

The rough path around the mountain opened up into a clearing. Beyond the clearing, there was the unmistakable edifice of a temple. Wide steps led up to darkened entry ways along with menacing statues of bugs. That was right—the thunder ninjas did have bugs as their zords and symbols. It made her glad that her team had dinosaurs.

"This is frighteningly from a movie," Eric muttered.

Cam stopped and Kira nearly ran into him. "The challenges were in the temple. If we can make it through the challenges to the center of the temple, then the power is ours."

"What are the challenges?" Mike asked.

The former Green Ranger shook his head. "I'm not sure. There are vague references to the quest for the Holy Grail. The ninjas tended to think it was amusing to model things, literally, after some of the Judeo-Christian myths." He paused. "Like the Holy Grail. They had a sense of humor."

"That's not funny—that's deadly," Eric countered.

Cam gave him an appraising look. "You'd know more about it than I would."

Kira turned to Eric. "What's he talking about?"

Eric rolled his eyes. "My family is Catholic. I grew up listening to stories about things like the Holy Grail as bedtime stories."

"You have a family?" Kendrix asked him, looking interested.

"Everyone has a family of some sort," Eric countered. He started forward for the temple. Kendrix followed him. Kira fell into step with the others.

The wide steps to the temple opened up into a large entry way. Cobwebs, leaves, vines and all kinds of things made the distinction between inside the temple and outside almost non-existent. Kira watched as Eric moved aside some cobwebs. Further back, there were more steps and a more heavily cobwebbed area.

"There," Eric said, pointing.

"Who wants to go into the creepy room first?" Kira whispered.

Eric turned to give her a withering look before slowly placing a foot on the first step. He took another tentative step. Kira felt her heart begin to beat inside her chest. Cam didn't have a clue what these challenges were, but…

"Holy Grail," Eric whispered. "Only a penitent man will pass."

Kira watched as he brushed some of the cobwebs aside. Without warning, something large and silver came swooping from above in that small area. At the same moment, Eric dropped to his knees and the thing sailed over his head. Kendrix pulled some rope out of her backpack and threw it to Eric. Kira couldn't see what he did behind the cobwebs, but she could see the large silver blade come to a halt, no longer moving.

Eric reappeared from the cobwebs.

"These ninjas didn't study grail lore," he said. "They watched movies."

"Movies?" Cam asked.

"The thunder ninjas obviously came to America to hide their great power," Eric said, almost to himself. "What's the great American pastime? Or one of them? Watching TV."

"What's your point?" Mike asked.

"They modeled this after _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade._"

Kira frowned. "So you're saying that the challenges would be the same as in the movie?"

Eric gestured to the temple. "Look at the temple. Look at the first challenge. I'm willing to bet a lot that they are."

Mike was shaking his head. "Let's go back to camp for tonight. If we can pinpoint the other challenges, then we'll have an idea of how to get to them tomorrow."

"We could do it now."

Their commander gave Eric a withering look. The five of them turned around and headed back for camp. This had been one weird day…

* * *

Kendrix pulled her jacket tighter around her. It never failed to amaze her that, while it could be blistering hot during the day, it was downright cold at night. She watched as Eric gently blew on the fire to rekindle it, so Kira could boil some water. Eric's theory about the challenges being based off a movie made sense in a strange way. She could see ninjas coming to America in the eighties and watching movies, then thinking it would be amusing to model things after the movie. So, hopefully, tomorrow they would have the thunder powers and be able to help the Time Force Rangers like they had said they would.

She watched as Eric put the water kettle on a grill. What she wouldn't have given for a propane grill right about now, but no one had thought to get one before they headed out and there was no place to get one for hours.

There were so many things she had expected to happen within a bounty hunter squad, but this was not one of them. Too much had happened since yesterday morning at that board meeting… she wished she knew how she felt about any of this.

"Hey."

She looked up as Mike sat down in a lawn chair next to her. "Hey," she echoed, wishing that the water would boil faster.

"You all right?"

"Aside from temporarily thinking that Eric was going to get his head chopped off, I'm fine." She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter. "Why did you have us leave today? We probably could have finished the challenges if they are what Eric thinks they are."

Mike let out a long breath. "I know. People were getting tired and on edge. I didn't want a temper-induced accident." He paused. "It was just better for us to take a break and then start again tomorrow morning."

"What about the future?" she whispered. "Trip said the timeline would alter drastically if we didn't get the uniform power source."

"We weren't given a time limit," Mike said. "Wes would have contacted us by now if the mutant started causing damage or hurt one of them."

"Yeah, Wes," she snorted.

Mike gave her a sidelong glance. "You don't like him?"

"I don't know him," she countered. She shrugged. "He seems all right."

The former Magna Defender's gaze went to the fire. Sparks flew as Eric poked it with a stick and then laid the stick over the flames. "None of us have had it easy since we stopped being rangers," he said softly. "You had to deal with the others being weird around you, since we had thought you were dead."

Kendrix sighed. "There's nothing that can be done about that."

Mike shook his head. "I wish I could have changed that, but then you ran and went back to Earth."

"I didn't run." She paused. "I just got a new job."

He gave her a look that said, 'right.' "I no longer had a job when Terra Venture crash-landed on Mirinoi. It was more like keeping up pretense of having a job…" He trailed off for a moment. "Kira's been in the public eye for the past year. From what I can gather about Eric, he's had a couple of botched relationships."

That explained a lot. "And Cam?"

"Disillusioned. I guess we all felt we lost our purpose when our powers were no longer needed. The enemies are gone. We're aimless."

Kendrix nodded. "But we're all here now," she countered. "And we're trying to become rangers once again."

"Maybe it will unite us."

"What do you mean?"

"Right now, we're all kind of working in 'every man for himself' mode. There's not a sense of unity because our job doesn't necessarily require that we all work together." He sighed. "Maybe we're supposed to get these powers because more menacing fugitives are going to start infiltrating Silver Hills. There's got to be a reason we need them."

She agreed with him on that. There had to be a reason that the Time Force Rangers had told them they needed a uniform power source. Mike stood up.

"I'm going to turn in," he said. Cam was already in bed. Kira was now stirring something in one of the tin cups they had brought.

Kendrix nodded at Mike. Her eyes wandered back to the dying fire. Eric had stopped trying to keep it going. He would probably wait up until it had extinguished itself and then turn in for the night. With the fire almost gone, it was getting so that she couldn't see anything. She reached into her jacket pocket and felt for her flashlight.

"Here."

She looked up. Eric was standing in front of her, holding out a cup.

"Hot chocolate," he clarified.

Kendrix smiled and took the cup. Eric took Mike's former place. Neither of them felt the need to talk as they watched the last embers of the fire pop and die down into the inky blackness of the night.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **You know what? I was looking at the outline for this and realized - laser guns don't matter. No more of that! Moving right along... thanks for reading, reviewing etc. 


	9. Finally United

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Two: On the Money  
Chapter Nine: Finally United**

"So you know how to spell 'Jehovah', do you?"

Cam fought the urge to snicker as Eric whirled around and pinned Kira with a glare that would have disintegrated a lesser person. Kira had definitely been in a mood the entire time they were out here. Ordinarily Cam wouldn't have pinned her as someone who couldn't handle camping, but those long weeks on the road seemed to have spoiled her to the point that she would rather stay in a hotel than camp any day.

"You know, Kira," Eric said in a dangerously low voice. "I do watch movies. I know you don't like to think that, since you think I live in an old army barrack bench-pressing cars."

"Do you?" Kira sounded interested.

"Never mind," Eric snapped back as he walked up the steps to the temple.

"There are days I can see Eric taking an Uzi to someone and laughing maniacally as he pumps bullets into them," Kendrix commented, falling into step with Cam.

He smiled. "With a half-smoked cigar in the corner of his mouth."

"And sunglasses," she added.

"Saying something like 'merry Christmas, mother fuckers'," Cam finished.

"I heard that," Eric yelled. "And I don't have an Uzi or a cigar so it's not going to happen. If I did, Ford would be the first victim."

"He just gave me a death threat!" Kira sputtered to Mike.

Mike was studiously ignoring all of them.

Cam fell silent as they followed Eric up the steps to the temple, entering the large stone room that was impressive upon arrival. He didn't imagine that the thunder ninjas had used this temple for anything in a long time. They had a little temple on the school grounds that served purposes for anything of the religious nature. The thick cobwebs were a little ominous, but since Cam could think of several spider types that were indigenous to the area that would have nests in a place like this, they didn't surprise him.

The first challenge had been neutralized. Cam could still see the rope from where they had tied it off to stop the pendulums from swinging.

"You're sure about this?" Mike asked Eric.

The Quantum Ranger nodded. He stepped towards the steps leading to the section of the temple thick with cobwebs. They fell into line, following Eric through the hall that looked like something out of a haunted house. Cam nearly ran into Kira as they came to a stop.

He looked at the floor. It looked like large stone tiles had been laid out. Each of them had a letter on them, written like the old Latin script.

"Only in the name of God shall he pass," Eric said softly.

"I don't understand this," Kira muttered. "What is it with these ninjas and their obsession with Christian stuff?"

"They probably thought it was funny as hell," Cam replied.

Eric studied the floor for a moment longer before he stepped onto the tile with the letter 'I' on it. It held strong. That was right—this was based on the Latin alphabet. Cam was suddenly grateful that he had taken those elective courses on ancient languages in college. He continued on the rest of the letters that spelled 'Jehovah' in the Latin alphabet. He would have to sit down and watch the movie that Eric was getting all of this from.

Once Eric was on the other side, Kira carefully stepped on the tiles after Eric had. He reached out a hand and pulled her to the other side. Cam followed after her, getting across with no problems. Kendrix went next, but her heel slipped and the tile next to the one she was supposed to be standing on, crumbled, revealing a long fall to a pit below.

"Kendrix!" Eric yelled, grabbing her hand. She looked ready to panic, but Eric pulled her across, holding her close on the solid ground. Cam hadn't even realized that his heart had been pounding until she was safely on the other side.

Mike completed the crossing.

"What's next?" Kira asked as they filed down a narrow hall.

"A leap of faith," Eric replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The narrow hall opened up into a small cliff… with nothing to get across the canyon. Eric looked at the small statue of a lion's head. "A leap from the lion's mouth."

"I don't care if you do think you're Rambo," Kira said. "There is no way in hell that you can jump this."

Eric ignored her and took a step seemingly off the cliff. "No!" several voices yelled at once. He turned around, standing on nothing seemingly and giving them all a bored look.

"What?" Cam asked.

"Come on," Eric said, holding out a hand to Kendrix. She took it and stepped off into thin air to join him.

"It's an illusion!" she cried.

An illusion? Cam followed them out. Once one was out on the walkway, one could see that it was actually a walkway, disguised somehow. Kira and Mike followed and they made it to the other side of this canyon with no problems.

On the other side of the canyon, there was a tunnel that they had to crawl through that opened up into a large chamber. There was an altar in the center. Cam pushed through the people staring at it. The altar had a gold-plated relief of the five insects that the thunder ninjas had used for their powers. There was a dragonfly encrusted with rubies and each of the others—beetle, praying mantis, firefly and butterfly—each with precious stones of the color that corresponded to the bug.

"This is it?" Eric asked, sounding incredulous.

Cam gently traced the outline of the dragonfly.

"You seek the great power?" a loud voice asked.

He stepped back, falling into line with the others. "We seek the thunder powers."

"And you have made it through the challenges. You must be worthy."

The shape of an ancient ninja appeared before them, wearing the robes that the thunder ninja masters wore. The crest of the Thunder Ninja Academy was on his left breast. He nodded to the five of them. The ninja raised his hands and gold sparkles came forth. Those sparkles settled around each of their left wrists, leaving a morpher in its place. The basic body of these morphers was the same, but each was customized to the insects.

"Michael Corbett," the ancient ninja said. "Aspiring to the air, you are their leader. You will embody the powers of the Crimson Thunder Ranger. The dragonfly shall be your symbol."

Mike stared at the morpher for a second, before smiling.

"Kendrix Morgan," he continued. "A temper hot as the hottest flames yet control as practiced as a hearth fire, you will embody the powers of the Mauve Thunder Ranger. The butterfly will represent you."

Kendrix looked almost afraid as she glanced at her new morpher.

"Eric Myers, practical and staying close to the earth, you will become the Navy Thunder Ranger with the beetle as your symbol."

Eric's expression was unreadable, but Cam figured he wasn't happy about not being assigned the position of the leader.

"Kira Ford, fluid and graceful like the water, you will embody the powers of the Goldenrod Thunder Ranger. The firefly is your representation."

Kira grinned. So no drastic color changes for Kira or Kendrix.

"Cameron Wantanabe," the ancient ninja finally addressed him. "You are a samurai and, as such, will embody the powers of the Forest Green Thunder Ranger. The praying mantis is your symbol."

The ancient ninja floated upwards so that he was floating just above the altar. "Say 'thunder storm—ranger form' to call upon your powers. You have earned these powers. Use them well." He disappeared.

"That was weird," Kira commented.

"Come on," Mike said. "We have to get back to help the Time Force Rangers with their mutant problem."

* * *

Downtown Silver Hills was deserted when they got there. Destruction was all around… it looked like the mutant had some fun before going into hiding. This was like one of those movies that featured an epidemic raging through a town and then someone coming back and trying to piece together what had happened. Pieces of paper blew through the empty street like tumbleweeds. Cars were smoldering and the air was thick with smoke.

"What happened?" Cam asked.

Kendrix stopped and looked at the deserted street. "Where are the Time Force Rangers?" she whispered.

Eric brought his quantum morpher to his mouth. "Wes? Jen? Anyone?" He lowered the old morpher and looked at them.

"This is too weird," Kira muttered.

Kendrix shivered, even though it was warm outside. Were they too late? Had the delay until this morning been too long? Where was everyone? This didn't even make any sense.

"We stick together," Mike said. "Whatever caused this shouldn't be underestimated."

They nodded and stuck together as they walked down the street. The shops were surprisingly untouched. No one had looted them or gone on rampages because of this. Kendrix followed Mike as he led the way. What if this was a sign that the timeline was shifting beyond their control? She didn't want to think that she was partially responsible for changing the future from what it was.

A blast from a laser gun hit a street sign near them.

"Come on," Mike called, taking off towards the noise.

The group ran after him. Kendrix took in a deep breath, her heart pounding. For the first time since she had been a ranger, she was glad that all she had had to deal with was Scorpius' and Trakeena's alien outlaws. Something about mutants was just much more threatening.

The scene before them was not one that should have shocked them. The four Time Force officers along with Wes were battling a mutant. The mutant looked like it was oozing green and yellow pus from cracks in its hide. It was also having no problems keeping the Time Force Rangers from arresting him and taking him back to the future.

"Ready?" Mike called.

Almost on instinct, they fell into a line. "Ready," they echoed.

"Thunder storm—ranger form!"

Kendrix felt the familiar sensation of morphing, like one's nerve ending were being electrified for a second, before an incredible sensation of power flowed into one's veins. The torso of her suit was mauve—a dark pinkish purple color—along with her boots and gloves. The skirt on the outfit was black and she had gold knee pads and shoulder pieces. The sleeves and legs of the suit were gray and metallically.

"Whoa," she heard Kira mutter.

"This is amazing," Kendrix said to herself.

It was different from the galaxy powers. She could almost feel the limits of the power that came with the Quasar Sabers. Here, it seemed like the powers were limitless since they came from the earth and the earth provided more power than anything else could. The ancient ninja had described each of them in terms of the elements. It was almost like they were in harmony with the earth…

"Let's do this," Mike said.

"Thunder staff! Full power!" they called in unison, pulling the staffs from where they were on their backs.

As one, like in so many battles before, the five of them ran forward towards the battle that was already raging. Mike went forward with his thunder staff and managed to dislodge the mutant from where it had Trip and Lucas cornered.

"Thanks," Trip said.

They paired off by colors, reminiscent of the battle that the Galaxy Rangers had fought with the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers. Kendrix found herself fighting with Jen—the Pink Time Force Ranger and the one that Cam had kept describing as Xena, Warrior Princess. All right, so the leather outfit had been a bit much, but she was a decent fighter.

Kira was working with Katie, who was genetically enhanced for strength. Cam was working with Trip. Mike was paired off with Wes, while Eric was with Lucas. No one's facial expressions were visible, but Kendrix could almost imagine what all of them were thinking and feeling.

She leapt forward with her thunder staff. The weapon was similar enough to her saber that she had relatively no problems working with it. She managed to get a hit on the mutant, sparks flying before it threw out a tentacle and threw her back. Being morphed caused some of the impact to be absorbed, but it still hurt.

"Kendrix!"

There was a navy blue blur in front of her and a cry of "thunder shield!" She watched as one of the mutants tentacles came forward, but hit the transparent film of the shield and recoiled. "Eric?" she asked.

He leaned down and grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet. "You all right?"

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

Mike had pulled out a blaster and managed to land a shot on the mutant. They had individual weapons in addition to the arsenal they had already pulled out? Which weapon was hers? She had a feeling… "Hawk blaster!" she called. A smaller blaster appeared in her hand. It looked like it had been designed for another power source and had been repainted. Kira pulled out a large hammer and was pounding the ground, slowing down the mutant.

"Navy antler," Eric called. With a war cry to rival any cowboys and Indians movie, he ran forward, the antler grasping the mutant around the waist. He lifted the mutant into the air and threw him against the wall.

Kendrix aimed the hawk blaster and hit the mutant squarely in the chest. He gave out an ugly scream before falling to the ground and turning into a tiny and still version of himself. Not quite realizing it, her visor slid up. The other Thunder Rangers' visors did the same as they watched Jen put the mutant into a container.

"Mutant captured?" Mike asked.

Jen nodded. "Power down," she muttered and appeared in what she had been wearing. The other Time Force Rangers followed suit.

"You guys," Trip breathed. "That was awesome!"

"Yeah," Katie added. "Your powers are cool."

"The timeline is back to normal?" Eric asked.

Jen smiled. "Yeah. That mutant would have destroyed us if you hadn't showed up."

"Glad we're good for something," Cam muttered.

"Come on," Mike said to them. "We've still got a bunch of FTAs at large."

The groan of protest was loud enough to drown out any more of his orders.

* * *

Mirinoi was pretty nice. Eric followed Kendrix down the rough path through the woods that was leading to a small village of Mirinoi natives. The planet had an untouched sense that Earth didn't have. It was as though Earth had been used and wrung dry. In Mirinoi he could sense something pure. The repaired City Dome of Terra Venture was self-sufficient, using relatively few of the resources of the planet.

All of them were spending the weekend on Mirinoi. None of their skips were imminent and Mike had fabricated a story about suspecting one of them of having fled to Mirinoi. There were times that Mike surprised him. After the thunder power quest and the departure of the Time Force Rangers and the mad number of skips plaguing them, Mike must have decided that they needed a break.

Eric had given his quantum morpher to Wes before taking off. He had deactivated the voice identification, figuring that the guardians' needed it more than him. His glance went to his left wrist where his thunder morpher was. So he was the Blue Ranger—there would be time later to get therapy about that. Perhaps he wasn't the leader that he kept telling himself he was. First Collins reassigned him, but made him a squad member. Then the ancient thunder ninja made him the Blue Ranger. Nothing in his power could change what had already happened.

The others were doing various things on the planet. Kira had gone for a forest walk with the Galaxy Yellow Ranger—Maya. Cam was getting a grand tour of City Dome from Kai, the Blue Galaxy Ranger. Mike was visiting with his brother. So that left him to come with Kendrix to the village to replace her Quasar Saber in the stone. He didn't mind. He liked spending time with Kendrix and, if he hadn't still been feeling the sting of his last relationship, would have asked her on a date already. It wasn't fair to Kendrix to start a relationship when he was still sorting through the baggage he had with Taylor.

The village was sleepy. A few people roamed around, carrying baskets, but no one gave them a second glance. He supposed that the people were used to people from Terra Venture coming down here to visit.

The Quasar Saber stone was in the center of the village. Four of the sabers were already there. They had the same basic design, but the hilt of each one had a different animal symbol on it. The empty place was on the far left of the stone. Kendrix moved to it and glanced at her saber, before pushing it back into the stone.

"It's weird," she said softly. "I keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Putting my saber back," she replied, turning to him. Her blue eyes looked distant. "But I don't need it anymore." Just as he didn't need his quantum morpher. Her bug symbol was the butterfly—and it seemed to represent her better than her Wildcat Galactabeast had. She had spent so much time in a cocoon that she needed to blossom into the butterfly she was.

At first, he hadn't understood the thunder ninja's reasoning that Kendrix was fire. He could see all the others, even himself as Earth, but Kendrix as fire? _A temper hot as the hottest flames yet control as practiced as a hearth fire…_ She did have a temper that came out once in a while. But she had control, which was the other element of the fire that the ancient thunder ninja had been talking about. She was used to controlling her temper and not allowing it to manifest itself. Consequently, no one knew that her tears were angry rather than sad.

"None of us do," he replied.

She smiled sadly, gazing at the stone with the sabers.

"Hey, guys!"

He turned to see Mike and his younger brother, Leo, coming down the path through the middle of the village. Leo had remembered him from the Red Ranger mission to the moon and had enthusiastically greeted him. He glanced to Kendrix. She looked a little uncomfortable with the presence of Leo.

"Kai invited us over for dinner," Mike supplied.

"He's a great cook," Leo added.

"When is it," Eric asked.

"Seven."

He glanced at his watch. It was getting close to seven. They would have to leave now in order to get to the City Dome in time. The brothers were giving them a searching look.

"We'll be there in a minute," he said.

Leo shrugged as if to say, 'suit yourself,' while Mike smiled conspiratorially. The brothers disappeared down the path in the setting sunlight. Eric glanced at Kendrix and gently took her hand. She smiled brilliantly. He didn't want to start a relationship with her, but he would settle for the close ease that they already seemed to share.

"Should we go?" he asked.

The exasperated expression on her face was answer enough. He gently tugged at her hand and they headed down the path towards the City Dome.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **End of Part Two... intermission... Part Three - Mike gets the bright idea that they all need formal ninja training and ridiculous-ness ensues. More of a mini-part than anything else. 


	10. Road Trips

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** Medium changes to the first two parts - primarily, the elimination of the implied past Wes/Eric relationship. There are minor changes to other things (like more tweaking to the scene at the shooting range), but that is the major one. I would say go back and read those sections again, but since I just told you what I changed, it's not a requirement. Thanks to _Kit_ and _cmar_ for providing insight into that. There's an entire mad, crazy story about the evolution of this piece - which I will tell to anyone who wants to hear it. That's it for now...

* * *

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Three: On the Clock  
Chapter Ten: Road Trips**

"My father's given you guys permission to enroll at the Wind Ninja Academy on a part time basis and he says you can start this weekend!"

Cam came into the kitchen, looking satisfied with himself. It was Thursday night and they were frantically trying to bring in all their current FTAs-at-large so that they could have a free weekend. Of course, since Vito Baldacci was out—again—it was not looking promising. Kendrix gave him an idle glance from where she had been spearing macaroni on a fork, more playing with it than contemplating eating it. Dinner duty was assigned on weekdays. Thursday was Mike's night to cook. She liked Mike—he was a close friend—but he was a terrible cook. Her thoughts had actually been to the stash of jalapeno chips and chocolate in her room and how soon she could sneak up there and eat something after the 'meal.'

"Since when?" Kira asked, actually eating the macaroni. Kendrix was beginning to believe that her taste buds had been burned off in some kind of tragic coffee accident.

"Since now," Cam replied smoothly, sitting down. He took one look at the macaroni on the island, wrinkled his nose ever so slightly and looked around the island. Eric was making no secrets about the fact that he wasn't eating the macaroni, as he took a large bite out of a sandwich. He looked nonplussed at the news.

"I thought it would be a good idea," Mike added. "We could use the stealth."

"We don't need stealth," Kira muttered.

"So the last time you went on a take-down and the guy got away because you ran into the trashcans in the back wasn't because of stealth?"

Kira gave him a death glare. Mike just continued with a placid stare that seemed to be permanently fixed to his face. Kendrix was starting to believe that he had glued that expression on and went into his room to blow up. She pushed some of the macaroni around on her plate. Eric offered her a bite of his sandwich. She shook her head. No need for all of them to be completely rude about Mike's lack of cooking skills.

"We leave tomorrow afternoon," Mike said after a tense silence. Kendrix wasn't sure if the tension was from the news about ninja training or the macaroni. "We'll come back on Sunday night. None of the FTAs right now are imminent."

"That's _ wonderful_," Eric said sarcastically before he pinned Cam with a glare equal to the one Kira had been giving Mike. "You can stay here and clean _our_ room." He took another huge chomping bite out of his sandwich.

"He's coming with us," Mike replied. "Just be packed and ready to go."

"Pack what?" the former Quantum Ranger shot back. "Formal evening wear? Should I bring my shower cap?"

"You don't have a shower cap," Cam responded.

"No, but you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Can you two have this argument somewhere where I can't hear you?" Kira asked loudly.

Kendrix didn't say anything and continued to push the macaroni around. Eric stood up and went to the fridge, pulling out more sandwich fixings. God, how could that man still be hungry after the huge sandwich he just had? It must be a guy thing. Even Cam ate more than a human being had a right to eat. There was a reason she hid her jalapeno chips in her room.

"Pack pajamas and work out clothes, shower stuff, something to read at night," Mike told them in the lull.

"You'll have uniforms," Cam offered. "So you'd wear that during the day."

"Do we have to dress for dinner?" Eric asked from where he was standing at the counter, putting the finishing touches on the sandwich.

"Casual dress uniforms," Cam replied. "You have training uniforms, which are day wear, formal robes and the in-between things, the casual dress robes." He paused. "My father and the other teachers will explain all of that when we get there."

"How exciting," Eric said, more sarcasm dripping from his voice. He picked up the plate with the sandwich and came back to the island. He pulled her plate with the macaroni away from her and put the sandwich in front of her. He then turned to Mike. "Can we put you in a cooking course, about yesterday?"

Mike shrugged.

"Man," Kira muttered as she arranged her remaining macaroni into a smiley face. "We have to miss Eric's night to cook." That was the strange variants in the boys. Mike could cook nothing at all, unless it needed to be defrosted. Cam could handle things like pasta or simple chicken dishes. Eric left all of them in the dust, whipping up a whole variety of gourmet dishes like there was nothing to it. Fridays were the only night any of them looked forward to eating at the townhouse.

"If you can read, you can cook," Eric muttered. He gave Mike an interested look. "_Can_ you read?" Mike threw a wadded up napkin at him.

Kendrix picked up the sandwich and started eating it. In all actuality, Eric was the one being extremely rude here and not her.

* * *

The grounds of the Wind Ninja Academy were pretty nice, Eric reflected as they trooped across the wide open practice field to the large building that made up the school. Ninjas were all over the place in color-coded leather uniforms. Cam had made some noise about them getting test uniforms while his father made the final decision on which element they would belong to—Earth, Air or Water. He had wanted to ask about Fire, but decided against it. He had been all for Cam staying in Silver Hills and cleaning their room.

The interior of the building was amazing. The entryway opened up in a wide arch with the balconies from the upper floors looking down on them. It almost looked like one of those fancy Holiday Inns that was completely indoors, except that the room was finished in wood tones with red and black trim. Simple, yet effective… There was a fountain in the center of the front hall.

"Welcome Thunder Rangers," a man said. This had to be Kanoi Wantanabe, Cam's father. The man's son didn't resemble him too much. He was also dressed in iridescent robes that weren't of any of the colors that Eric had seen running around outside. "Cameron will show you to your quarters. Your test uniforms are there. Put them on and report to the main practice field."

"Great," Eric muttered. He adjusted the strap of his duffel bag over his shoulder.

Cam gave them an apologetic look as his father disappeared. "Sorry," he said as he led them up the stairs to the second level. "He gets a little lofty like that."

"Must come with the territory," Kira commented. "He seemed cool when you guys helped us about with that whole Lothor thing."

"He was in mentor mode, not ninja master mode."

Cam led them to a cluster of doors on the second level. There were small room numbers above the doorknobs, small enough that a casual passerby wouldn't notice them. He told them all their room numbers. "Men and women's bathrooms are down the hall," he added. "The students don't have lessons on the weekends, so it will just be you guys in there."

"_Wonderful_," he said under his breath.

If Cam heard him, he chose to ignore it. "Put on the test uniform and meet down in the lobby. I'll show you guys the main practice field."

"Can we get a tour later?" Kendrix asked.

The samurai nodded and they dispersed to their rooms. For some reason, Eric was glad that he got a room to himself this weekend. Normally, he just put up with roommates—like Cam—but it was getting old. Some respite from Cam the Chronic Mess this weekend. He set his bag down on the floor next to the bed and went over to the window. He had a view that looked out over the forests surrounding the secret ninja school. He glanced down to the thunder morpher on his wrist. Cam had said something about true thunder ninjas being rare… and the five of them were wind ninjas.

Elements… well, they would just see which element each one of them was this afternoon. He looked at the test uniform lying on his bed and groaned.

* * *

"Bow to each other. Bow to me. Defensive positions…"

Kira idly listened to the instruction that Sensei Wantanabe, the Elder, was issuing to Eric and Mike. He had her and Kendrix spar and then moved on to the males for now. The test uniforms were hideous, but, hopefully, they would have real uniforms before too much longer. The three elemental teachers—the former Wind Rangers—were also watching the sparring matches. She supposed that the three of them would be the experts on their elements and would be able to identify ninjas in that sense. Like calls to like…

The match between Eric and Mike was going to be a draw. That was obvious. Eric stayed close to the ground while Mike took to the air, using high kicks and jumps. Eric couldn't get his feet out from under him and Mike couldn't topple Eric's balance. They were evenly matched.

"Earth and Air," Cam muttered. He had changed from civilian clothes into the uniform she tended to see him wear the most. It was a simple black pseudo-kimono with green thread running across the chest.

"What?" she asked, turning towards him.

"They're Earth and Air," Cam repeated. "You can tell by their fighting styles."

"Okay," Kira said. However, Cam had a point. It was almost obvious by their preferred fighting styles which was which.

"The match is a draw."

All of the matches had been draws. Sensei Wantanabe moved off of the practice arena to consult with the other teachers. Eric had a neutral expression on his face, while Mike just looked curious to the proceedings.

"This is ridiculous," Eric muttered. "We could be out throwing Baldacci's ass back in prison where it belongs."

"Eric, you always find him quickly," Kira reminded him.

He gave her a look that said, 'that's not the point, it's the principle of the thing.' She just shook her head. He might have the hots for Kendrix, but there was little to no chance that he would act on that. Myers would be overprotective from a distance. Kira inwardly smirked. Maybe it was time to recruit Cam and do a little matchmaking. For all the stoicism that Cam put in his persona, he would probably watch soap operas if he had time during the day. The man was addicted to reality television. She grinned.

"Stop grinning," Cam told her. "You look like you're about to start cackling."

"It might be good exercise."

"And I thought you were the one with a brain."

Kira didn't reply, just swayed and nudged Cam in the side. He returned the gesture.

"We have come to a conclusion."

She looked up and stopped contemplating whether or not to nudge Cam again. It was amusing that he actually responded to jabs like that—she wouldn't have expected him to. The teachers had come out of their conference. Oh boy—now she got to find out which dingbat she got to study under while she was here. She liked Shane, Dustin and Tori, they were nice people, but not the brightest crayons in the box. Of course, they probably knew what they were doing…

"Michael Corbett, you will study the ways of the Air ninja." No surprise there. "Eric Myers, Earth." Again, no surprise. "Kira Ford," the ninja master continued. "You will join the Water ninjas." Okay, so working with Tori was halfway bearable. "And Kendrix Morgan." By this time, Kendrix was looking confused. "You will study with me as the first Fire ninja in one thousand years."

"I'm… Fire?" Kendrix sputtered.

None of the teachers replied. Kendrix gave Cam a floundering glance. Kira hadn't previously known that any of the teachers here _could_ train someone who had fire as their element. It was decidedly odd.

Cam shrugged at Kendrix. "The uniforms are at the school." Kira had a feeling that he had known exactly what elements all of them would be—he just had to go through the official hoops with his father. "You can change into them and start some basic training before dinner."

"What's for dinner?" Kira asked as they began to walk back to the school building.

"Chilled monkeys' brains," Eric snapped.

The samurai shrugged. "I don't know." He then gave her a sidelong glance. "Are you always hungry?"

"Okay, you guys are hungrier than me, you just don't admit to it."

They fell silent as Cam led them into the school building and towards an equipment type room on the first floor. He went through parts of the uniforms, finding things that fit each of them. Kira took the parts to hers as they were handed to her—the thing was black leather and trimmed in light blue. The pants to hers had no color, unlike the guys. Mike had a red uniform, while Eric's was yellow. His expression was blank, but he probably wasn't too happy about the color affiliation. Cam then pulled a package out of a crate near the floor and handed it to Kendrix. Her uniform was purple—just like Kira's, but purple instead of blue.

"Get changed," Cam said softly. "The teachers will be out in the practice field when you guys are ready."

* * *

All right, so _this_ was one of the ideas he had had when he wasn't thinking straight. Mike let out a long breath, trying to concentrate on what he was doing. He should have questioned Cam more carefully before plunging headfirst into this endeavor. Of course, Cam had made it sound like, since all of them were rangers with previous combat training, ninja training would be a breeze. It was easy for someone who had already graduated from this ninja school to say that.

The sun was just starting to sink over the horizon, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. Mike wasn't sure where the others had disappeared to, but the teachers had dispersed. This was making him wonder how long, in real ninja training, it was before the teachers started them on controlling their elements.

Visualize the air… or more, make his own image of air. There was a problem with that—Mike pictured the breeze or a stronger wind. He could not just picture air. Shane kept telling him that he had to visualize the _air_, not the _effects_ of the air. What was he supposed to think about then? Oxygen atoms floating around?

He opened his eyes. Shane was standing a few feet away, his arms crossed over his chest. "I keep picturing the wind," he said.

Shane shook his head. "I didn't get it for a while either. It's easier with the other elements because they're so concrete."

"Well, what do you see when you think about the air?"

That made the ninja sensei pause. "It's not so much a picture as it is a feeling. It's like being very aware of the air on your skin and being able to reach just past a veil in order to control it."

Why hadn't he said that earlier? Mike closed his eyes—this time forgetting about picturing the air and concentrating on sensation. The light feel of the air on his skin, blowing in a soft evening breeze, almost like a caress rather than something stronger… He was surrounded by air, he just couldn't see it. Almost unconsciously, he reached out a hand and felt the air concentrate itself in the palm of his hand.

"You're doing it!"

He released the air he had gathered and opened his eyes. Shane looked impressed. "You should have described it as sensation first."

The Air sensei looked sheepish. "I have trouble explaining that to my students."

A distant gong sounded. Mike looked up, towards the school building. "I guess that means dinner time?"

Shane nodded. "It means we have half an hour to change into casual uniforms and be in the dining room."

Mike nodded and the pair of them headed for the building in silence. The three elemental teachers here had little in common with the bounty hunters. All three of them were younger—an age where _they_ could have baby-sat for _them_ in high school. The lone exception to that was Kira, who was about the same age as them. Mike had no doubt that they knew what they were doing, but he was concerned about the others, mostly Eric, being able to stomach taking orders from someone so much younger.

Kendrix was standing around the front hall when they entered, still in her training uniform. "Hey Mike!" she said with a grin. She had been training with Sensei Wantanabe and had probably had a better time than the other three members.

"Hey," he replied, noticing that Shane disappeared down a corridor on the first level. They fell into step as they made their way to their rooms on the second level. "How was the training?" he asked.

"It was cool," Kendrix breathed. "I learned how to create fire with my mind. Kanoi said that fire is the only element you can do that with."

"What were you doing? Lighting candles?"

She nodded. "How was your training?"

"Shane knows what he's doing, he just has trouble explaining it."

Kendrix nodded sympathetically. There were pounding footsteps up the stairs. He turned to see Kira—soaking wet—and Eric coming up. Kira looked disgruntled, probably more from the fact that she was soaked. Eric looked livid. Oh dear…

"How'd it go?" he asked and then braced himself.

"I hate water," Kira growled and went into her room, slamming the door behind herself.

Eric gave him a level look. "I might have been a Marine, but I'm not stupid." He paused. "I think I'll take an Uzi to Dustin now." He, in turn, disappeared into his room.

Mike exchanged a glance with Kendrix. This might be far more explosive than he had originally intended—and his original view had been of insanity breaking loose.

* * *

The school was quiet. It was normally quiet on the weekends—even with the number of people that were here. During the week, the place was crawling with students and the like. It was always noisy, usually with Dustin at the center of the cacophony and the trouble. Now, everyone was in bed or, at least, in their rooms. Soft lantern light spilled from the lamps in the front hall, casting a golden glow over the fountain.

Cam sighed to himself. The spirit of the wind ninja sang in all of them, but training should have started much sooner. He felt slightly uncomfortable with them having ninja ranger powers, when almost none of them were ninjas. However, he had failed to calculate the effects of Dustin on Eric and Tori on Kira.

"Hey."

He turned from where he had been leaning on the balcony. Kendrix was coming out of her room, wearing pink pajama pants with sheep on them and an oversized t-shirt from the GSA. He gave her a fleeting smile. "Hey," he replied.

"Why are you still up?"

She stood next to him at the balcony. "Failure to think things through on two different parties tends to keep people awake."

Kendrix laughed softly. "Eric and Kira will get used to them." She paused. "They just have to accept their better qualities and come together on common ground."

"Ever the optimist."

"I've been accused of that once or twice."

He smiled. "I guess I thought that they had grown up."

"You haven't been gone that long, Cam."

"I thought things would have changed."

"They have, just not in the ways you wanted them to." She paused again. "Has the way they treat you changed?"

"I don't know."

"You will."

Kendrix moved away towards her room. Cam continued to stare down at the pool, thinking of how he had changed since he went away…

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **If you ignored the note at the beginning, go back and read it! Other than that, there's not too terribly much to say. I don't know if the changes will register immediately with the new chapter - I hope so. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 9 - _CamFan4Ever, cmar, dancer1, Feline-Feral, fenestrae, Funky In Fishnet, Hagar, Juzblue, Kit, MagCat, rougeangel199, takimiromy, Weesta _and_ white time ranger_. It's late and I would respond to each of your reviews, but... let's face it - I'm lazy (and exhausted.) So, thanks for reviewing and continue to give the great feedback! (PS - Hagar, the beginning of your review completely made my day. :) Thanks once again! 


	11. Ninja Training

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Three: On the Clock  
Chapter Eleven: Ninja Training**

Of all the stupid ridiculous… Eric gulped in a large breath, the cool morning air stinging his mouth and throat. He had a stitch in his side and was in that strange state that came from early morning jogs—he was hot and sweating, but cold. He wasn't sure how long he had been running, but it felt good. He hadn't taken a run like this since he had been in the Marines. Sure, he worked out and did weight training, but nothing purely like this.

The sun was just cracking the horizon. Last night, he hadn't been able to sleep. It was almost _too_ quiet around here. He was used to people moving around until at least midnight, sometimes Kira writing a new song. Even then, he didn't go to sleep until Cam was in bed because, otherwise, Cam made noise. He had grown entirely too used to having someone else in the room, just breathing. Kendrix had her bed against one of the walls shared with their room and tended to kick the wall when she rolled over. Things buzzing and beeping at all hours of the night, people's phones ringing because friends and family members forgot about time changes… none of that went on here.

He came to a halt near one of the stone benches in the garden of this place. He peeled off his hoodie, the cool air immediately making goose-bumps appear on his arms. It was an unpleasant feeling, yet a great one. It made him feel alive. His gray t-shirt was soaked with sweat. The others had either continued to or, in Mike's case, started to wear their Thunder Ranger color. Eric had gone through his entire wardrobe and came up with one navy blue t-shirt. Then he had thought, to hell with it. No one was going to force him to wear navy blue and he didn't want to, since it was another reminder that he wasn't the leader.

"You're up pretty early."

Eric looked towards the sound of the voice. Dustin was coming towards him, wearing the casual uniform, something that the teachers seemed to do more often than the students. He didn't have any parts of his uniform on yet, mostly because the color yellow revolted him. It wasn't so much that it was unmanly, as that it was _cheerful_.

He shrugged. Dustin was giving him a wary expression. So who had told Dustin that he wanted to take an Uzi to him?

"I'm sorry about yesterday," the Earth sensei said tentatively.

Eric gave him a level stare. "You are the same age as my youngest sister," he replied. "There's nothing to be done for it."

"Yeah… you're the first student I've had that's older than me." Dustin paused and gave him an interested look. "How many siblings do you have?"

"Seven."

Dustin blanched. "Seven? How old are they?"

"Oldest is thirty-three. Youngest is twenty."

"Your parents had eight kids in thirteen years?" So the airhead could add. Eric would never be able to understand why people found the size of his family so impressive. It wasn't like he was close to them or went to the family reunions. He sent his siblings and parents birthday cards and, beyond that, he didn't talk to them. His parents still lived in Trenton, while his siblings were scattered across the country. He was the second oldest—and that was a horrible place to be birth order-wise. Always one step behind and nothing ever good enough…

"Yeah," Eric said.

"Wow." This kid would get along really well with Theresa, his youngest sister.

"Does this interrogation have a higher purpose?"

Dustin shrugged. "No. I was just curious."

"Stop being curious."

"I can't help it."

He was entirely too much like Theresa for comfort. Involuntarily, Eric cracked a smile. He didn't have anything fundamentally against Dustin. He just didn't like taking orders from or learning from someone who was Theresa's peer.

"What are you smiling about?"

"I'll set you up on a blind date with my little sister."

Dustin shuddered. "No thanks. You'd probably sit in the backseat with a gun the entire date."

"Actually, that would be my father, not me." Eric almost laughed at his stunned expression. "He's an ex-Navy Seal." Let him chew on that for a while. Of course, there was no need to mention that after his father left the military, he got a blue-collar job at a factory, was almost deaf and drove a taxi for fun. (Or more, so he would be out of the house and stop annoying his mother.) His mother was the more intimidating one. He and his older brother, Keith, would get into trouble in high school and, despite the fact that they were both towering over her by then, she would make both of them cower at her rage.

"I'm going to breakfast," Dustin said after a long pause. "Training starts again right after that," he added.

"Great," Eric muttered.

"I promise I'll be clearer about the elemental stuff."

"Yeah, right." That would be the day…

* * *

"Ten mile run," Kira gasped. "This is all your fault!" she added to Eric.

Eric glared at her. "How is it my fault?"

"_You're_ the one who told Dustin he doesn't know anything about combat!"

"Who's the one that threw water on Tori?"

"What's your excuse? You're the smartest one here?"

"_I_ wanted to catch Baldacci!"

"Just shut-up!" Kendrix yelled from behind them. The ten mile run wasn't really the fault of any particular person. It was more a culmination of a series of tragic accidents and snide comments and pranks. That had ended with Sensei Wantanabe sending all of them on a ten mile run while he discussed some things with the teachers. However, a ten mile run wasn't agreeing with Eric and Kira's temper. Kendrix felt ready to throw up. She hadn't been on an official run like this since her time in the GSA. She never went on ten mile runs when left to her own devices. She hated running.

She slowly came to a halt. They weren't going very fast, since pacing was essential and a medium jog gave Eric and Kira enough breath to yell at each other. Bile rose in her throat and she tried to keep it down. How embarrassing would this be? Tears stung her eyes. She really, really _hated_ running.

"Whoa, whoa, Kendrix!"

Eric was beside her. Well, she thought it was Eric from the yellow uniform. Her eyes were watering so much she couldn't really see. She vaguely registered Kira and Mike coming over to them as well.

"Keep moving," Eric was saying to her. He was rubbing her back. He gently lowered her to the ground. Kendrix lay out on the cool grass, suddenly not caring if this ten mile run ever got completed. The others followed suit.

"This is ridiculous," Kira muttered.

"Fuck it," Eric said. "We're not doing this anymore."

"Ninja training or the ten mile run?" Mike asked.

"All of the above," Eric snapped.

"Don't argue," Kendrix almost wailed. "I'm tired of people arguing. That's all we've done since we got here." She curled up into a ball on the grass. She was sick of being at this ninja school, sick of training here and sick of all the consequences of it.

"She's right," Mike said. "Let's go back to the school and get cleaned up. Lunch should be pretty soon."

"If we go back to the school, they'll know we didn't finish the run," Kira stated.

"What the hell are they going to do to us?" Eric growled.

"That's a point," Mike responded, taking in a deep breath. "We could go back to the garden. Our stuff is in the garden." Or more, Kendrix and Kira's backpacks and the guys' water bottles and towels.

"Can anyone move?"

Kira had yet another point. Kendrix didn't feel like getting up from where she was. It wasn't that she couldn't, it was more the fact that she had just lost all motivation to. The training had gone well yesterday. Who had decided on group training this morning? Cam knew that putting the four of them together in one place for any amount of time meant chaos was coming, especially since Kira and Eric snapped at each other when stressed.

Mike dragged himself to his feet. "Let's go."

"Ugh," Kira groaned, standing up.

"Come on." Eric held out a hand for her. She grasped his hands and allowed him to haul her back to her feet.

They walked in silence back to the garden. The school was designed so that runners could use the perimeter of the grounds. Something ridiculous like eight laps equaled the ten miles that they were supposed to run. Now that said something about the size of this school. Kendrix wasn't sure how many laps they had completed, since Kira and Eric had managed to run and bicker, causing her to lose count. Their things were in the garden as they had left them.

"Why are we here again, Mike?" Kira asked.

Their leader gave her a withering look. "I explained why we were coming here before we even left." He paused. "And I'm not repeating it."

Kendrix dug through her backpack, pulling out a hairbrush and a towel before coming to her water bottle. Someone had found it amusing that she upended her purse in order to find her cell phone a few days ago. Her room might be neat, but the mess was hidden in the drawers. She pushed her hair behind her ear, not bothering to fix her ponytail. In fact, most of her hair had fallen out of the ponytail, so that wasn't the correct term anymore.

"We're here to learn stealth," Eric said sarcastically.

"You people are going to be the death of me," Mike muttered.

"That's just your way of saying you love us," Kira responded.

"Like root canals and rabies' shots."

Kendrix sat down on the ground in front of a bench. They were supposed to report back to the school after the run, so it would probably be their best interest to wait awhile. Kira was sprawled on the grass, using her backpack as a pillow. Eric got up and sat down on the bench behind her, picking up the hairbrush from were it had landed on the ground. He tugged the ponytail holder out of her hair and began to brush it. Kendrix didn't really pay attention to what he was doing, since the rhythmic brush strokes were so relaxing.

"Eric, you're so chivalrous," Kira said in a teasing tone.

"There's still time for me to go into town and get that Uzi."

She heard Eric set the brush down on the bench. His fingers were running through her hair, almost like he was braiding it.

"You can French-braid?" Kira sounded amazed.

"It's not that hard."

"Where'd you learn that?"

"I have four younger sisters."

"That explains it."

Eric was French-braiding her hair? That didn't mesh with the image she already had of him. Of course, he was proving to have odd characteristics that he didn't tell people about. The cooking was one of them and now this? In a few moments, he was wrapping the ponytail holder around the end of the braid and handing her hairbrush back to her. She gingerly reached up and felt her hair. He had French-braided it and it was tight, but he had been able to do it without pulling at her hair. What in the world? He must have had a lot of practice at this.

"You guys can stop hiding in here and come back to the school."

She turned to see Cam coming into the garden, an amused smile on his face. "Busted," Kira muttered.

Kendrix gathered up the things she had pulled out of her backpack and stuffed them back in. The others started to get up slowly. Cam looked at Kendrix's hair and then turned to Eric with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Were you a cosmetologist in a previous life?"

Eric glared at him. "You can shut-up now."

* * *

All right, so the man with the explosive temper had settled down. Dustin had taught him how to pick up chunks of dirt with his mind and direct them places. Eric was flicking them at Kira when she wasn't looking. They were all a long way from being able to use their elements like the former Wind Rangers could. He hoped that things like dirt-diving and walking on water and even levitation would become a non-issue in the future. The teachers were supposed to focus on the elements with them and not the combat skills.

Cam smiled watching the varying activity. Part of him had known that the ten mile run wouldn't be completed. It had been more of a way to get the four of them occupied or hiding while he could talk to Shane, Tori and Dustin.

"They have the potential to be great ninjas."

He turned as his father came to stand beside him. "They do," he agreed. "We would never have been able to get the thunder powers if they weren't ninjas fundamentally."

"True. It is a shame that we cannot bring in all who sing to the wind ninja spirit." His father fell silent, watching the various activities. Kira squawked as another dirt ball hit her square in the back. She turned and glared at Eric, but he gave her a look that said, 'what?' Mike was creating little gusts of wind, effectively damping the small fire that Kendrix had been trying to build in the fire circle.

"How have you been?" his father asked after a few moments.

Cam turned to him. "I've been fine."

"I know you have wanted to leave the school for a long time now."

He shrugged. "It's always been a part of my life. I wanted to do something different."

"The others miss you."

"You can all get along just fine without me."

His father turned towards him with a small smile on his face. "You always did walk your own path. I cannot stop you from doing that."

"Dad, I'm almost thirty. Isn't it time you let go?"

Silence reigned between them. Cam knew that his father was thinking through the implications of what he had just said. His entire life, he had been protected by his father, even when he had been in college. For the first time, he felt true freedom. He was around people who appreciated and respected what he knew as a computer genius and a ninja. It wasn't all peaches and cream, but it wasn't being bound to a ninja school. He had been exhausted—he was in charge of the Wind Ninja Academy and no one had seemed to be able to do anything without his guidance. This was what he wanted… being a bounty hunter.

_"How old does a person have to be to do whatever they want?"_

_ "No one has ever lived that long, Cam."_

"I'm just worried about you," his father said softly. "You haven't picked up any of your old habits have you?"

His father would bring _that_ up. "No, Dad," he replied, trying not to be impatient. "I'm fine. Ask the others."

"Your mother –"

"Why do you always drag Mom into these things?"

"She would have wanted you to be happy."

Cam sighed, thinking back to his master's degree. He had blocked out a lot of that period for certain reasons. His father had wanted him to come home, where he would be at the school and be safe. A lot had happened then—he had tried to cut off all ties with the school and what it stood for. That had led to a self-destructive spiral that ended with his father taking him out of the program for a semester and taking him home.

"I know," he said softly.

"Cam, I cannot stop you from doing what you must." His father paused and put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck in your quest."

* * *

"So what did we learn this weekend?"

"Be nice to morons?"

"Okay, that was the wrong answer."

It was Sunday afternoon and the car ride back to Silver Hills was getting interesting. Mike kept his eyes focused and the road and ignored most of the conversation. Kanoi had asked him about when the next time they might come back would be. Mike honestly had no idea since everything hinged so heavily on their workload.

"You'd think ninja masters would be a little more mature," Eric muttered.

"I liked my sensei," Kendrix piped up.

"That's because Kanoi was training you," Kira shot back. "Try getting a surfer chick to explain to you about water."

"I don't plan on it."

"There's still one thing I don't understand," Cam said. "Why haven't we heard from any of Kira's fans?"

"That was random," Kendrix told him.

"It was kept quiet," Kira shrugged. "No press release or anything."

Mike glanced in the rearview mirror. Cam was in the very back of the SUV, his laptop out and his fingers were flying. Eric and Kira were in the middle seat. The former looked disinterested in the conversation while the latter looked bored. Kendrix was sitting shotgun and offering her two cents worth every so often. He liked to think that they wouldn't break off into factions during a domestic war, but he had already seen some of the possible factions.

"I also don't have the look I had on stage," Kira added. "No one recognizes me."

"What _ was_ that look?" Cam asked.

"Goth—to the extreme."

Cam shuddered and absently rubbed his shoulder. His t-shirt sleeve slid up his arm with the motion, revealing a network of faint white scars.

"Jesus, Cam!" Kira burst out. "What happened?"

"Looks like a cat got him," Eric commented.

"Yeah," Cam said testily, pulling his sleeve into place. "A cat got me."

"Must have been one freakin' vicious cat," Kira muttered.

"A cat?" Kendrix asked from the front seat.

"I don't know," Eric said. "My little sister has this really vicious cat that takes chunks out of people's hands." He held up his left hand, showing Kendrix a thick scar running between his thumb and index finger.

"Ouch," Kendrix murmured. "A cat did that?"

He nodded and settled back in his seat. Mike was wondering if the conversation was going to move away from cats any time in the near future. This bunch did know how to get off on random tangents about things. He glanced in the rearview mirror again. Cam was absently rubbing his shoulder and looked almost horrified that someone had noticed the scars. All right, so Cam wanted something to stay hidden.

Soon enough, they were pulling into the driveway of the townhouse. Everyone jumped out of the car, taking their stuff with them. It was time to get back into professional mode, picking up their skips.

"Kira!" Eric called. "Are you coming with me to get Baldacci?"

"Sure," she called back. "But we have to be morphed."

"Why?"

"I am not letting him ruin more of my clothing with his freakin' eggs!"

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Moving right along... next part - the downside of being a former pop star and why to always set the timer when you put something in the oven... Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	12. Adoring Fans

**Disclaimer:** 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

**BOND ENFORCEMENT**

By Etcetera Kit

**Part Four: On the Line  
Chapter Twelve: Adoring Fans**

He had a thorn in his side right now and it had a name – Andy Kruper. The loser was out on bond again and, this time, had disappeared. He wasn't drunk at his house and his wife wasn't concerned about losing her house. She had said, in so many words, that the place was a dump and Collins could have it. That meant he had to do actual research and enlist the help of the Silver Guardians' geek squad. They had a list of places that were likely hideouts for Kruper. He was checking them out today – and taking Kendrix with him.

Eric spread some butter on his English muffin, reaching for the jar of jelly on the island. Kira and Cam had been working on bringing in some people with more petty charges and were having a spat about where to start today. Why was it that no one argued with him? Oh, it was because they still thought he was going to buy an Uzi and start taking it to people.

Mike had wandered into the kitchen a few minutes ago and looked awful. (He had probably been having a _great_ time last night.) Eric kept his comments to himself and tuned out the bickering and questions, eating his food.

"Are you all right, Mike?" Kendrix asked. Her cereal spoon was halfway to her mouth and she was gaping at their commander.

He shook his head. "I'm staying here today."

"What's wrong?"

"Migraine."

Ah – he would have those too if he had been commander of this bunch. In a way, Eric was almost glad that he wasn't the commander. He wondered how long it would be before someone gave Mike an ulcer. However, Mike tended to care entirely too much about the process of things – a mark of being in the GSA for so long. With bounty hunters, one couldn't nitpick the processes involved. Bounty hunters were a law unto themselves. Almost anything went. Then again, Collins was on Mike's back more so than someone in a Silver Guardians' command position. Money talks.

"We know where Chandler is going to be. Let's get him first."

"We know where all these people will be. We can pick them up in a logical order around town."

"No—"

Mike groaned and disappeared back into his room.

"Shush," Eric said to Cam and Kira. "He's under the weather."

"It's all this fighting," Kendrix said. She paused and looked concerned. "Should he go to the doctor or something? I don't remember him having migraines before."

"Yeah – it might be a tumor."

Eric got a withering look in return for his attempt at humor. "I doubt it's a tumor," she said. "But it has to be stress-related."

"Seeing as we're not privy to his private meetings with Collins, I'd gather you're right," Eric replied, stuffing the last of the English muffin in his mouth. "I'm just surprised he hasn't had a heart attack yet."

"That's not funny," Kendrix said, frowning.

He swallowed his food. "Was I trying to be funny?"

"I guess not," she agreed grudgingly.

"Let's go," Cam said to Kira, putting his dishes in the dishwasher. "If we take my car, we need to put gas in it."

Kira nodded, probably being quiet and amendable in light of Mike's illness. She followed suit and put her cereal bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. The pair of them left the kitchen, going out the side door to the garage. A moment later, they could hear a car pull out of the garage and the door slam shut.

"Where are we going today?" Kendrix asked.

"We're checking out the list of places that Gabe gave us." He reached into the pocket of his jacket, which was sitting on an empty stool. "I think we should start with the seedy hotels and the whore houses on the list."

Kendrix looked highly disgruntled about the side of town they were going to be haunting, but didn't say anything as she finished the last of her cereal. He glanced to the closed door to Mike's bedroom. It was surprising that Corbett hadn't started getting stress-related illnesses sooner. The stacks of FTAs were growing, just like the bond agency. Collins was also starting to take more dangerous bail bonds, in light of the fact that all of them were rangers. Aliens made up most of them, having strange powers or reactions to Earth's atmosphere. He was starting to see where the elemental powers from the ninja training would come in handy – he could have used an earthquake a few days ago.

"Ready?" he asked her.

She nodded, her ponytail bouncing as she did. He fought the urge to adopt a goofy smile. There was something about that blonde hair – like it was inconsistent with her personality – that made him laugh. Bouncing ponytails just didn't fit into his image of Kendrix as a science oriented geek for all intents and purposes.

"Let's take my car," she said as she put up her dishes. "But you drive."

Eric gave her a mild look. "All right." He knew where that was coming from. Kendrix hated driving through the seedier parts of town, but knew that her car was best for those areas. It was in better shape than his junk bucket, had fully-functional seatbelts and was bigger, meaning they would win in a car crash or if they needed to run someone over. If it had been any other assignment, there was no way Kendrix would let anyone besides her drive her car.

He put up his dishes as well and caught the car keys that Kendrix tossed to him. They got into the car and pulled out of the garage. Eric handed her the list of places. "You're the navigator," he said.

"That works if you follow directions," she muttered.

Eric gave her a sidelong glance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Some other people around here don't know left from right."

He thought about the implications of that for a moment. Then he went over various possibilities of who the offending person might be. All signs pointed to Kira, whose driving skills he abhorred anyways. "I know where these places are," he said. "Just read them off and check them off the list after we stop there."

Kendrix was silent, frowning out the window.

"You're prettier when you smile."

She turned to look at him, an expression of pleasure and shock over her face. He just gave her a small smile before turning to the road. God, he would date her in an instant, but there was just too much baggage, baggage that only Kira knew about.

* * *

Cam pulled his car into a local gas station near the heart of town. It was almost always busy and crawling with cars and people since it was convenient. Kira gave him a sidelong glance and unbuckled her seatbelt as they got out of the car. She watched idly as Cam pushed the correct 'pay outside credit' buttons and began to pump the gas.

"I'm going to get something to drink," she said. "Want something?"

He shrugged in indifference. Kira knew what he would want anyways. She turned towards the convenience store and pushed through the glass doors. The doors swung shut behind her, closing off the noise of the cars and the smell of gas. It was quiet in here with one or two others besides the clerks roaming around, picking out snacks and paying for gas.

Kira made her way to the back of the store, where the coolers full of sodas and liquids were. She located a cherry Coke for herself and then scanned the shelves, eventually finding a cherry-vanilla Dr. Pepper for Cam. There was one way to get Cam to do anything – and that was to take away his coffee and his Dr. Pepper. One or the other he could live without, but both? He crashed and burned faster than anything she could think of.

She passed the candy isle and considered getting something to share, but decided against it. Breakfast had been a little while ago and there was plenty of food to eat at the townhouse. Besides, Cam probably had a stash of something in his car and all she had to do was ask about it.

Someone else was in line paying for gas with a credit card. Kira tapped her foot impatiently and let her eyes roam. There was a magazine stand – all the untrue tabloids and ridiculous stories proclaiming things like 'alien baby found in Manhattan' and 'Oprah's latest weight gain.' Like anyone actually cared about those types of things?

The person in front of her was taking forever. She picked out one of the least lurid magazines and idly flipped through it, balancing the drinks in one hand and turning pages with the other. It was the normal teen magazine flippancy. She smiled at the pictures of the latest boy band and all the ridiculous facts like 'favorite color' and 'favorite food.' It had been a long time since she read magazines like this and ate up the pointless facts. Her view of boys and the music industry had crashed in junior high. She had dreamed of coming onto the scene and creating a revolution in music – not becoming another teen pop idol like she had. None of her early songs were on her albums and that was some of her best work. She had quit while she was ahead, before she could turn into Kylee.

There was a small 'news' section in the back of this magazine. It had the whereabouts and information on some of the hottest stars. She scanned through it – knowing that most of it was untrue. Her eyes froze on the last mini-article. She couldn't breathe, black spots dancing before her eyes.

_ Grammy-award winning pop star, Kira Ford, is reported to have been seen in Silver Hills, Washington. According to passersby, she works for the millionaire, Alan Collins, as a bounty hunter. This bounty hunter team is affiliated with the elite police force, the Silver Guardians._

That was it. That was all it said.

But she knew that her cover had just been blown.

Who would have done something like this – gone to the magazines and reported her current whereabouts, no matter how small a detail? It couldn't have been anyone on the squad or anyone associated with Bio-Lab, especially since most of them didn't listen to the kind of music that she had played. Who…

Her ex-manager, Eddie… He had been the one upset when she left show business, citing all the money and albums and platinum records she could have. But it hadn't been her earning those things that he cared about. The more money she made, then the more money he made. He had been waiting his entire life to manage a successful pop star. It had been his dream. This was probably his sick idea of revenge. She shouldn't have told him about the job she had been thinking of taking or where it was.

It was only a matter of time before fans descended upon Silver Hills and their townhouse. She almost felt sick thinking about what the others would be subjected to. None of this was fair to them. She needed to leave, but go where? And then leave the others to deal with the aftermath of this? A lump lodged in the back of her throat and she tried valiantly to swallow it. She wasn't going to break down in the middle of a gas station.

"Kira?"

She jumped at the sound of her name, expecting to see a rabid fan. It was just Cam. He looked concerned.

"What's taking so long?" he asked.

Kira looked up. The picky person who had been paying for gas was gone and the clerk was flipping through a magazine, looking bored. When had that happened? Almost on auto-pilot, she held out the magazine to Cam. It was still turned to the offending page.

Cam gave her a curious look and took the magazine. His dark, almond-shaped eyes scanned the page and then froze, coming to what she had read. He looked worried, but not about the article – he looked worried about her. He replaced the magazine on the stand and took the drinks from her, pulling out his wallet to pay for them. She didn't react as the clerk gave him his change. He picked up both the bottles and took her hand, pulling her back to the car.

His grasp was strong and warm – she didn't want him to let go, but knew that she had to in order to get in the car. Cam was silent as they got settled in the car, putting the drinks in the cup-holders near the floor. His hand gently rested on her shoulder, those dark eyes asking her a question that she wasn't sure she could answer.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked softly.

She tried to swallow the lump, tears stinging her eyes. She didn't want to think that Eddie could be so callous as to do this. People didn't get better as time went on – they just thought of more ways to be cruel.

Cam gently pulled her into his arms, a move made easier by the fact that neither of them had their seatbelts on yet. He settled her against his chest and she breathed in the familiar scent, wanting that familiarity and comfort. She wanted the stability that Cam provided. He accepted her as what she was – and had known her before the pop diva status. If there was one thing she knew about, it was that he was extremely loyal. He wouldn't leave her high and dry in a situation like this.

The tears she had been trying to hold back began to flow. Silent sobs shook her body as she buried her face in Cam's neck. His arms tightened around her, letting her know that he was still here, here for her. He murmured words of comfort that she didn't comprehend. She just took comfort in his nearness.

This was a nightmare she desperately wanted to wake up from.

* * *

"You want _me_ to go in there and get him?"

"You're more than capable of it. Morph, if it will make you feel better."

Kendrix glowered at Eric. He picked the absolute worst times to have complete and total trust in her. He also picked the worst times to overestimate her ability. Kruper was forever being brought in on domestic abuse charges. He was chronically high or drunk. How was she going to bring him in on her own?

The other odd thing she had to grow used to what were their relatively non-secret ranger identities. Wes had mentioned to his father about their ranger powers and that led to some experts from Bio-Lab seeing if they would replicate the powers, which they couldn't. In other words, people from the company knew who they were, but most normal civilians didn't know about their ranger powers. Of course, Bio-Lab employees were used to having rangers around.

"I'll take the back," Eric continued. "If something dire happens, scream."

"Easier said than done," she muttered.

"Kendrix, if we don't move in now, then Kruper will get away."

He would play into her strong sense of responsibility. She unbuckled her seatbelt, glancing at her morpher in the same gesture. No – it wasn't necessary to morph. Kruper tended to come quickly enough when someone pointed a gun at him. Of course, he knew them and their methods and had become more devious each time around. This was stupid. He would come in and some of the women in that dump of a hotel would probably help.

"Room 304."

Kendrix nodded; her gun in place under her jacket where it wasn't visible, but was accessible. She could also pull out her Thunder Staff quickly enough if the situation deteriorated into a fistfight or escalated into a fistfight, depending on how one looked at it. They had learned in their first few battles as Thunder Rangers that their weapons could be called upon outside of their morphed form.

They got out of the car and entered the dark, dingy lobby of the hotel. If she hadn't been a bounty hunter, then she probably wouldn't have known that places like this existed outside of the movies. People lounged around the lobby and a fifty-ish woman was behind the desk looking of hair dyed once too often and one-pack of cigarettes a day.

"I'll go talk to the manager," Eric said in an undertone. "Go upstairs and get Kruper. If he's bolted, come back and report that."

"Eric, I'm not stupid," she snapped back.

Eric winked at her before sauntering up to the front desk. The woman immediately fluffed her hair and smiled brightly at him, revealing yellow, rotting teeth. Eric working his charm on these people… Kendrix shook her head and glanced at the malfunctioning elevator. It was probably best to take the stairs in this case.

The stairs were blessedly free of people and other signs of life. She climbed them quickly, glad that the ninja training had given her a little more speed. Cam had said something about them being able to ninja-streak, which would definitely come in handy if people started shooting at them. Of course, she was also supposed to be able to start a bonfire with her mind if the ninja training were completed.

The hall was dark and dank, smoke drifting. A few people were gathered at the far end of the hall and paid no attention to her. She reached into her jacket and pulled her gun out of the holster, before coming to a halt in front of room 304. Both hands on the gun, she kicked at the door, almost expecting it to cave in.

"Yeah?" came a familiar voice from inside.

"Andy Kruper? This is your bond agency."

There was silence from within. Kendrix aimed a deft kick at the doorknob and the cheap, flimsy door gave way. It swung open, revealing a disturbingly quiet room. She edged into the room, fighting the urge to wrinkle her nose at the filth that covered the place. It was absolutely squalid. What kind of self-respecting human being lived in a dump like this? Then again, hers was not to judge here… she just had to bring him in.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. "Kruper!" she called, her mouth suddenly gone dry. "Come out with your hands up!"

"You'll have to catch me first!"

Kruper, himself, jumped out of the bathroom, completely naked and covered from head to toe in Vaseline – and it was not an impressive sight. He was high – again. Kendrix put her gun in her holster, seeing as he didn't have a weapon, and pulled the handcuffs from the back of her jeans.

It was a long and ridiculous capture, but she managed to tackle him and get the cuffs on him in spite of the Vaseline. This was not helping her mood. She dragged Kruper to the elevator and prayed that it would work.

"Nice one, babe," one of the guys down the hall called as the elevator doors slid open and she pushed Kruper inside.

Eric was waiting for her in the lobby, the woman behind the desk still batting her eyelashes at him. He raised an eyebrow as she pushed Kruper out into the lobby. None of the patrons paid any attention. Kendrix gave him a steady glare that dared him to ask questions. And he didn't as they put Kruper in her car – getting Vaseline all over her back seat – and took him down to the Silver Guardians' headquarters. The guardian stationed at the back door didn't say anything either, but she could tell that it would be talked about the moment they left.

The paperwork couldn't go fast enough. It was an eternity before she was outside by the car. Her knees felt like jelly all of a sudden and she leaned against the car for support. Eric came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, keeping her upright.

"You did good," he whispered.

She stared into his eyes. He really did have mood stone eyes. They were that dark brown color of melted chocolate right now – soft and alight with a fiery passion. She wanted to say something to him, but words failed her. He leaned closer. 'Oh my God, he's going to kiss me,' she thought, just as his lips gently brushed hers. He gently teased her into opening her mouth, making her body burn with sensations she hadn't been aware she could feel.

Her cell phone rang. Eric gently ended the kiss as she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket, hands shaking. His arm was still wrapped around her waist and she was all too aware of his heat, his closeness… "Hello?" she asked.

"Kendrix!" Cam said into the phone. "You guys should get back here."

She could hear a distant roar in the background, like fans at a concert screaming. "Cam?" she questioned. "What's going on?"

"Just get back here."

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Has anyone else seen _ Shimazu Returns_? Didn't Cam look like the Marlboro man at the very end? Could have just been me - it must have been the hat... 


End file.
